be a better teacher

So far I am doing pretty well. I made a point of leaving my desk clean every day so that I am more together. I have also managed to get all my lesson plans online to my website so I can keep track of where I am and students can make up work easily. I also got through 25% of my parent calls, and plan on getting another 25% tomorrow. Getting that grading done in a timely manner is key though. I am a little behind, but trying to stay on top of it.

I’ve been teaching for 10 years and in the past few I have felt ineffective. I helped start a new school-within-a-school program about five years ago and it wears me out. I LOVE IT, but my schedule requires that I have 4 different courses at a time (high school). If I am not able to stay on top of things this year, I am going to have to push my colleagues for a schedule change. I teach summer school every summer in part to feel effective again. Only two classes, sometimes the same course—I feel better about my teaching in the summer than I do during the regular year! So far I feel good about the start of the year, but it’s only beginning!