The Good Thing

I can definitely say that I have seen a lot of things in summer school at Holly Springs. A lot of things: Some good, some bad, some even worse than that. But, I am going to say one thing that I enjoyed about this whole experience. I enjoyed getting to watch other teachers teach. At times,was it boring, yes. It wasn’t their fault. They were not boring. It was just the simple fact of sitting there all day long. I don’t see how the students do it. It is torture. I mean, there should be some compensation in their grade for torture pay. I did enjoy watching others teach. For nine months, I sat in a classroom, and every day, I taught. I never got to leave my room to go and watch a fellow colleague teach a subject that I would actually teach. I had no way to gain information or new ideas. Now,I have a few that I can use. I already use a lot ofdifferent teaching methods in my classroom. I have some different ideas and projects that I can implement into my room. In addition, next year will be my first year toactually teach Algebra I. (It will also be an inclusion class) So, this summer has better prepared me to teach Algebra I in the fall. I now have a whole year worth of lesson plans, work sheets, and activities. This is the bright side of the coin. I have two notebooks jammed full of information that I will not have to worry about in the fall. I would say that 70% to 80% of my planning has already been done for me. I am also teaching Transition to Algebra and Pre-Algebra in the fall. I taught these subjects last year, so I should be pretty prepared for nextyear. Hopefully I can take the time to implement even more teaching methods into my room next year since I have so many things already done for me. I guess the main thing that Iam excited about now is JULY! I need a break. I am beyond burned out.