i have a hard time thinking that i've known my sister-in-law for 31 years...and i still think she's the coolest red-head around!

Wk 4 - Day 18

well...i wasn't in class today. everything was cleared with my supervisor, cooperating teachers, etc. my older brother called and told my my sister-in-law was in the hospital. she lost 30 pounds in 4 days, couldn't keep anything down...or in, and that her potassium levels were dangerously low. he told me it's not life threatening...he'd tell me otherwise, but yet if her levels kept dropping...her heart could be damaged. so, i made the decision to go down to wausau.

found out later in the day that she has a parasite called cryptosporidium. the doctor said you get it from drinking contaminated well water. the doctor asked her if she has well water at home and she doesn't...so we all brainstormed to think of where she got it and couldn't come up with anything and the doctor is stumped. she's the first documented case of it in wausau! i guess there was an outbreak in milwaukee about 10 years ago. if she can't keep anything down and if her potassium levels don't come up...they have to order medicine to fight the parasite from madison or milwaukee since they don't have any in wausau. the earliest she'll get out is monday. i'm not a person prone to taking off at the sign of a sniffle with my family, but i am very close to the little family i have and want to be there if there's a problem. the health of my family has been a living hell over the past 5 years...and i just need to be there.

the teacher in me keeps thinking of the lessons i can do when i'm teaching about bacteria, viruses, parasites, etc., in a couple of weeks.

my brothers when they were little and way before i came into the picture. woe to the person(s) that would ever hurt my brothers! i tend to be a little protective even if i'm the baby sister!

Wk 4 - Day 17

today was a good day. i taught ms. b's 1st period...both mrs. s and ms. b were gone yesterday and i had ended up teaching their classes. so, today she asked if i'd continue since i knew where they left off...not a problem. i can't think of anything interesting to note...the students finished their paper models, we discussed the questions/answers, they participated...i couldn't ask for more. i had spent most of my time with a student that has issues and tends to be argumentative and disruptive. we've developed a pretty good working relationship...he'll work with me and participates. i like to challenge myself to get those "tough nuts" to crack so to speak. i think of my older brother who went through school hating it and was labeled as a troublemaker. he wasn't diagnosed with adhd until he was 35. a former teacher of my brother came up and told my mom that she should give him back to social services...in front of my brother. this happened at my baptism...my brother was 12. i'd like to find that teacher...if she's still alive and give her a piece of my mind. i have two older brothers and we are all adopted. anywho...my brother said to me yesterday how important it is for just one teacher to get through to a student to let them know that they care...and he wished how he would've had a teacher tell him that they cared about him.
i told him how i make a point to have at least one good conversation with a student; ask how their weekend went, what they did, how their sport's game went, favorite book, etc. every day... my brother really liked that. i know i can't keep every student from falling through the cracks and feeling like no one cares, but i'm going to do my best to keep that from happening and not turn a blind eye.

in the afternoon i introduced the topic of fossils. after a few new vocabulary words, i passed out a picture of a live horse. i had the students discuss every thing they could tell me about that horse. i then passed out a picture of a stegosaurus skeleton and asked them to do the same thing. the students caught on pretty quick to the underlying issue...it's harder to describe the animal with only the skeleton and how scientists "guess" what the animal was really like due to lack of external evidence. it was a good discussion...a student would state something they had written down and i'd have the class tell me if they agree or disagree. if they disagreed, they had to state why. it was the effect i wanted...students discussing with other students and they didn't interrupt each other and listened. mrs. s said that it's a different style than hers, but just as effective...which made me feel good...who wants to stand in front of the classroom being ineffective?

Wk 4 - Day 16

it was a good day yesterday. i ended up teaching for 5 periods...mrs. s and ms. b were gone for a day of training. mind you, it was a good day not because they were gone...i really like those ladies...it was just a good day. luckily for me, the subs were much better than the last one. one sub was a former business consultant from appleton and the other a retired phy. ed. teacher. both sub's just stepped back and let me do my own thing...unlike last week. i liked the subject...geology and the law of superposition. i modified the lesson at the last minute...i had found something on the internet (geology site) that had lots of cool pictures of unconformities. so, i decided to move the divider seperating the two rooms and put both classes together to look at pictures of rock layers on the smartboard. i'm sure there are lots of students like me that like to see something, like a picture, instead of just taking notes or listening to a lecture. after viewing the pictures, we went back on our side and worked on the activity. the students were productive...asked lots of questions and were well behaved...i couldn't ask for much more. i threw them for a loop when i did mrs. s's technique of getting their attention by counting backward from 5 to 1...i counted in chinese and that definitely got their attention. they wanted to learn chinese...so, we had a quick 30 second drill with learning to count to 5.

during study hall, one student came to ask for help on geology and the next thing i knew i had 7 students bringing their desks and surrounding me. i'm not the kind of teacher to give the answer away...what point is that? i'll ask questions in such a way as to get them to think of the answer on their own. the next thing i knew 2 more students from someone else's study hall came to join our little study group...so much for entering grades during my free time. i finished entering grades, changed the schedule in both rooms, got the journal question ready, set up handouts...for both rooms and i went home. warm fuzzy...the retired phy. ed. sub came up and told me that if he's there when my university supervisor visits...to send her right over to see him. he told me that i did an excellent job and that i was great with the students. he's a gruff ole phy. ed. kinda guy and i told him to stop before i got all girlie on him...major warm fuzzies as i call it.

Wk 4 - Day 15

today we're starting the radioactivity decay activity. two of ms. b's least favorite labs are both in the same week. i'm still at a loss on how to approach the topic with the lower level students...i think it's going to be hard enough for mrs. s's class to understand the concept. ms. b and i decided that we're going to put the students in groups of three; one recordkeeper, timer, and a cutter. in regards to vocabulary definitions prior to the activity that helped...was that she underlined (in red) what she wanted the students to write down in their notes instead of copying everything word for word. this definitely helped with time since their are many slow writers in her class. the students were to cut out two 10x10 cm pieces of paper. every 30 seconds one of the pieces of paper gets cut in half, etc. the rest of the class period was discussing why...explaining half lives...figuring out age, etc. it was a hard concept to grasp, but the students did ok in the end.

on a bad note...i wussed out today in teaching. both ms. b and mrs. s asked if i'd like to teach a period or two, but i declined. i realize that there will be days where i'm having an off day, sick or whatever...and i'll have to teach no matter what BUT right now...i still can be a little wussy. mind you, in defense of myself...i haven't said no to anything up until today. i just wanted to sit back and absorb like a sponge and listen/watch to the different techniques in teaching. one thing i liked that mrs. s did that ms. b didn't...was that mrs. s modeled what to do with the paper. mind you, it was just ripping a piece of paper in half, waiting, and ripping in half again...but i think that was important for students to visually see what to do.

another tidbit...mrs. s was getting a sub report ready for tomorrow. she made a statement to me how some teachers will leave little notes for the subs to watch out for so and so's behavior. she doesn't like to leave negative notes about any student(s)...she doesn't want the sub to judge the student before meeting them. i liked the fact that she doesn't give the sub any preconceived notions about the student(s) and whether it's for the day, week or longer...that student has a clean slate with the sub if only for a little while.

Wk 4 - Day 14

today the students in ms. b's first three periods have their take home quizzes (setting up an experiment and running it) due. so far, i want to bang my head against the wall in frustration. less than a third of the students actually turned it in and less than half of what was turned in was graded...the rest were re-do's. students had an example lab report at their fingertips, notes, assistance of adults in the classroom and a week to do it. when i was a student i had the fear of my teacher's wrath and my parents if i didn't complete an assignment let alone not even turn one in. what has changed? why are students so...lazy? junior high grades don't count for college entrance or even for getting into high school...perhaps students, parents, teachers, administration, etc., aren't taking anything very serious. truthfully, i just don't get it. i don't want to be a teacher that fails everyone, but my expectations are going to be really high. i don't need a principal reprimanding me because i have a high failure rate...which could happen very easily. mrs. s stated that only one student here has actually been held back a year... one student failing a grade in eight years. how can teachers hold the students accountable for their work?

i taught 6th/8th period today. we discussed the journal question of the day and introduced fossils. it was an easy day...discussion, played a video clip and discussed the take home quiz. the students in mrs. s's class handed in more per class, but still had just as many re-do's as ms. b's.

Wk 3 - Day 13

today's lab was working with film canisters. mrs. s and i labeled empty film canisters "a,b, and c" and filled them up with various objects...salt and a marble, paper clips, and dried peas. the students had to figure out what was in the canisters by shaking, rolling, weighing, etc., the canisters. this led into how geologists don't really know what is in the earth by sight...instead they figure it out by other methods. the students liked the activity...i could tell by the productivity and discussion in the room.

ms. b, mrs. s and myself had a talk today...we all decided that ms. b will have to separate from co-teaching with mrs. s and do her own thing at her own pace. the majority of students she has in her classroom are special needs and they just can't keep up the pace of mrs. s's students. i mentioned this very thing to mrs. s the week prior...in how i couldn't see the two of them continuing to work together because of such the vast differences in learning abilities of the students. ms. b and i also talked about how things weren't working for the three of us...finding common prep time was next to impossible. so...ms. b and i agreed to have prep time after school, otherwise if we met at any other time it would take away teaching time for me. we'll see how that goes next week.

Wk 3 - Day 12

i ended up teaching two out of the three classes. the sub for ms. b was very nervous and was very disorganized even with ms. b's notes. i could be wrong...but when middle school-ers smell fear, they'll eat you alive! when she started grouping students for a lab without finishing a lab from the day before...i stepped in. mind you, i did it very politely and professionally. to tell you the truth, i think she was rather relieved...she asked me to teach the next class. when i left to work with mrs. s, the sub asked if i'd stay for history. i said i couldn't and that i spend the afternoon with mrs. s, she looked disappointed. the only complaint that she had for ms. b was that she had an "incident" with a student. i was in the class when the "incident" occurred and it was with the same student i had removed from his seat a couple of weeks ago. i get along with this student...he's defiant, argumentative, and doesn't like school. when i removed him and relocated him, we worked on a project together. i didn't yell, talk down...i talked to him like i would with anyone...i should him respect. now, he works for me and ms. b...greets me in the morning and asks where i am when i'm not in the classroom. i was told by ms. b that someone (don't know what department) is trying to remove him from class. ms. b wants me to be an advocate for him since we get along so well. to me, this is the type of student that will fall through the cracks unless someone stands up and gives a damn.

i spent the 4th period with mr. s's 8th grade environmental science class. the students were out in the woods finishing up a site analysis. i wish i had time to work with him more...environmental science is more my thing, but it's good for me to work in an area of science i'm not as experienced in. i like how he is with the students; grouchy, cranky, blunt...and the students love him.

lunch period today was the 7th grade's first incentive. once a month, students who haven't received any demerits attend a special event. the event today was hunting for poker chips out on the football field. depending on the chip you could win a package of candy bars down to a 50 cent piece. personally, i thought it was a waste of time. i don't know how to put it into words..the students are of such an age that they shouldn't be rewarded for behavior that they should be exhibiting already and being "paid off" with candy.

Wk 3 - Day 11

the students were working on a shoe measurement lab today. the lab was to emphasize why we have a common unit of measurement. this was an activity that i had suggested that mrs. s decided to do. the students were paired together and had to measure various things in the classroom with a shoe. after discussing their findings and finding out that everyone had a different answer...they better understood the concept. one student piped up and said how centuries ago in england, the measurement system was based on the size of the king's foot. the students were productive, creative, and liked discussing their findings.

ms. b's class wasn't able to do this activity, they were still finishing the activity from the day prior. i was asked to stay with ms. b's morning classes for the next day...she had a sub for the day and said i'd know the students better than she would. i think it's going to be interesting with having a sub.

Wk 3 - Day 10

the highlight of my day today was the smartboard mini-session i sat in on after school. i've heard about them from numerous classmates, but i haven't had the opportunity to use one yet. the sample lesson plans i viewed, games, features, etc., blew my mind away. mrs. s has one in her classroom and has used it once to show a powerpoint presentation. i can't wait to dive in and see what i can do...i can't believe she doesn't try to implement it more. she's stated she needs to have more training in it and finding time to do it is a problem and i can totally understand that. one thing that i see everyday that's a problem is....time. there's just not enough time in the day to get everything done let alone additional training.

i sent an email to the technology person in the district and asked if there were any training sessions i could sit in on for smartboard, hopefully there will be. i can only hope that i'll find a job that has a smartboard in the classroom and having some training in it can only be a benefit for me.

Wk 3 - Day 9

the morning with ms. b went along fine. the students were working on the cosmic object lab. they were rather "squirrely" and tried to start the lab without reading the handout. they spent too much time re-weighing objects instead of moving on to the next step. ms. b reined them back in, the first time i'd seen her do this, and reprimanded them for not using their time efficiently. she then listed off what she expected of them and sent them back to work. i walked around emphasizing that they take their time with drawing details as thoroughly as possible instead of rushing through their work.

mrs. s's class is a day ahead and worked on a shoelace invention. she had an activity where the students were in groups of three and had to create an invention that would keep shoelaces from untying. she implemented my suggestion that the students nominate one member from their group to present their invention on the overhead to the class. i thought the presentations were very creative...magnetic shoelaces to a spray that kept the laces sticking together.

i sat in on my first parent conference today. one of mrs. s's students and her mother came in for a visit that they requested. the mother was concerned about her daughter's performance and wanted to let the teachers know what was happening with her daughter. the student has adhd and had been refusing to take her medicine. the mother wanted to have the school administer the medicine so that she didn't have to fight with her daughter anymore. on one hand i think that is something the mother should have to deal with on her own...there's too much that the school is responsible for already for students. on the other hand...being the aunt of a teen that refused to take her medicine...it's a load off the parent's mind to know that their child is taking the medicine even though it's not at home. other issues discussed were the student's lack of organization, problems with math, and needing to ask questions if she is having trouble with something. mrs. s made a comment on how frustrating it is to sit in on that conference because it's the same old situation but a different day...and it won't make much of a difference. i understand mrs. s's frustration...the students aren't held accountable for anything. "all we're doing is babysitting" is a comment i've heard from many teachers here...i hope i don't ever feel like i'm a glorified babysitter.

Wk 2 - day 8

today was spent finishing up the cosmic object lab. it was decided today that ms. b would skip the lesson/lab that i'll be teaching in mrs. s's class on monday in order to catch up. i don't have anything really interesting to note today. i was asked by mr. s (8th grade science) to watch his students for a bit so he could leave the classroom...i didn't mind at all. i'm planning on sitting in and observing his class more often...environmental science. i fielded questions from the students, helped with their work, corrected and entered grades, set up new grade files on the computer for ms. b and mrs. s, made copies, etc. it was a good day.

Wk 2 - day 7

today was rough for everybody all the way around. the referendum for the school district didn't pass...again. the people around here can be very selfish and rather uninformed and tend to remain to stay that way. the referendum was for a $23 million dollar loan/grant...something like that and it would NOT raise property taxes at all...i just don't get it. i can understand completely people voting against it if it raises their taxes, but i don't understand the vote against it when it doesn't. the referendum would have been a great benefit to the science departments and now the science teachers are very worried on what's going to happen next. mrs. s was very upset and i don't blame her one bit.

the other big event that happened today was vandalism. a student came into homeroom and told ms. b that he caught a 7th grader taking a rock and keying several cars...including hers. all in all, eight cars were keyed. i don't think any teacher was targeted, it was just a random act. luckily for the teachers, since there were two witnesses, it has become a legal matter. otherwise, the teachers would've been out of luck for compensation. mrs. s said that was nothing...when she worked at the high school, her car was stolen and totaled by a student. ms. b has the student who vandalized her car in her classroom. she acted very professional towards him...you would've never known by her behavior that this student had offended her. i would like to think i would've been the same way, but i'm not so sure...i would've been too mad.

ms. b's class is a day behind mrs. s. usually they team teach, but i don't see how it's going to be possible and they don't either. ms. b flew through the milk lab handout (the example lab report) and i just wonder what the students are retaining when she works through it so fast in an effort to catch up to mrs. s. mrs. s stated that ms. b is probably going to have to skip a lab/lesson in order to catch up to her. i don't know...i think i would just do it on my own and teach a pace that's best for the students, but ms. b has many more years of experience and knows what she's doing.

i taught 6th period today...cosmic object lab. it went very well. i was a little nervous for the first minute...if that. i know i would've been more nervous if i didn't have teaching experience before. i put up a picture of a favorite snack of mine from taiwan that the students would've never seen unless they'd been there. i used the picture to reinforce how i used the scientific method every day there to figure things out as simple as food. i couldn't read the chinese writing on the food stand and sometimes i didn't understand the answer (in chinese) when i asked what it was...so, i experimented a lot in figuring things out on my own. lots of hands up and guesses as to what it was which is what i wanted. this led into the lesson on how they had to imagine they were from a distant galaxy and found a round orange object. they need to use their observations skills and take detail notes and drawings of the object. they worked in pairs, used scales, colored pencils... and went to work. i felt the students were interested in the lab and were very productive.

Wk 2 - day 6

today was the first lab...it was called the milk lab. the student were given a question "what makes better bubbles?" the students were given two cups, a straw, vit D, and skim milk. they needed to blow through the straw creating bubbles in the milk and figure out which was better. it was a pretty neat little activity. at the wrap up, both cooperating teachers asked the students which was better and most students caught on right away. the students were set up to fail since "better" is an opinion. they were then asked what word should have been used and they came up with "bigger."

ms. b's class was very chaotic, and loud. the students spent most of their time talking over one another and blowing through the straws so hard that the milk spilled out of the cups. i'm really having a difficult time in ms. b's class because her style of teaching and classroom management is so opposite of mine. she's very laid back, loud, and doesn't seem to mind the students talking over her. i don't want to seem as if i'm "dissing" her teaching, it's just that i find myself really wanting to step in and reprimanding the students for being so disrespectful to her. not a lot of work seemed to be accomplished.

mrs. s's class was a lot more productive. the students were loud, but were working. i don't mind the noise otherwise i wouldn't be in a middle school...7th graders are squirrely and noisey, but as long as they're being productive...i don't care. the students poised a new purpose question and procedure, but more importantly had thought the purpose through and came up with reasons as to why....more fat content, etc. the class was able to work through the lab and had a good discussion afterwards.

Wk 2 - Day 5

i wasn't able to go to school today...it was one heck of a weekend...friend goes unexpectedly into the hospital, fuel pump goes out on the car after leaving the hospital friday night, stranded in wausau (i have family there, but my dogs were up in rhinelander alone)...yikes! my friend amanda had emergency surgery on friday and on saturday. she is ok...nothing life threatening, but something that needed to be treated immediately. she was supposed to be released from the hospital on sunday, but the doctor felt she needed one more day. well, i'm her ride and needed to pick her up. so, in a nutshell...that's my reason for skipping school on monday.

tuesday's lesson was rather boring, but the video was very informative. mrs. s and ms. b had the students watch a video from the early 80's about the scientific method. mrs. s said that if she had something more current and just as informative, she'd switch it out in a heartbeat...but she works with what she has at hand. after the video the students took notes on six vocabulary words and that was it. mrs. s reassures me that she rarely has days like this...she loves hands-on activities, but the video and note-taking needed to be done.

i had an interesting conversation with mrs. s...i made a comment on the lab handout and how everything is nicely laid out for the students and that it's basically a fill-in-the-answer worksheet. mind you...i didn't say it in such a way as to judge her work, we had a very good conversation. she stated that in her early years of teaching she had the students write out their lab reports, but she had a very high failure rate. she was basically yelled at and told to "dumb it down." looking at the lab report, i feel that the students are very much spoon-fed and aren't held accountable for very much at all and mrs. s agreed. i wasn't able to finish my conversation with her, but finished it with ms. b. i asked if there was a possibility to start off with the lab reports as a fill-in-the-blank worksheet, but throughout the semester and year...wean the students slowly off of it so that by the end of the year or much sooner...they're completely writing their own. ms. b didn't really say anything for it or against it, but she has a majority of special needs students and students at risk...so for her, it might just be best to leave as it is currently. however, if i were mrs. s i'd give it a go.

Wk 1 - day 4

friday, september 5th
i'm glad i did the presentation on thursday...a lot more students are actually remembering my name and asking lots of questions that aren't related to the presentation. the lesson today was looking up life and earth science jobs on a government website. the students needed to find out what the job duties were, salary, required education, job outlook, and a few more. for the most part the students were interested in the activity, but they were moving awfully slow and i don't think anyone was able to finish the exercise. ms. b who has a lot of special needs students in her classes thought that the exercise wasn't beneficial to the students...due to not being able to understand the vocabulary on the website and unable to write. mrs. s thought that the activity went pretty well. i talked to mrs. s later and we talked about how this year her and ms. b might not be able to team teach as much as last year due to the vast difference in their students capabilities.

Wk 1 - day 3

thursday, september 4th
the lesson today was supposed to be on the computer. there was a program that the students could access in which they'd list their choices for the most important technology product in order of most to least important. well...when we all arrived in the morning, both teachers found out that the website wasn't working. so, with 30 minutes to spare...i drove home and brought in my powerpoint presentation on my fieldwork in biology, grabbed the bird decoys and bands. i ended up speaking to 5 class periods and over 110 students. it went very well...i was comfortable in front of the classroom thanks to prior presentations and experiences during the past few years with DLiTE.

the presentation was like an icebreaker with the students...lots of smiles, hello's, and questions. both teachers said that this was as bad as it gets...the bad side of technology...and it's good to have a backup plan.

Wk 1 - day 2

wednesday, september 3rd
today was spent going over class expectations, rules, routine, etc. mrs. s and ms. k both started off with a question on the overhead projector. students were instructed to come in, sit down, and pull out their answer sheet and answer the question. the students were shown where to pick up the handout and where to return it. if the students write down the question it's one point and if they answer it...it's another point...at the end of the week, it's an easy ten points. by having the students sit down right away and start with the question of the day, it gives the teachers time to take attendance and gets the students minds on science. the scavenger hunt handout was corrected in class and if the students shown an effort in trying to complete the handout...it was worth 10 points. mrs. s stated that last year a handful of students had completed the sheet, but no one managed to do it this year.

the teachers are trying to cut down on note-taking this semester, but sometimes it just can't be overlooked. the students were given 6 definitions to write down; science, technology, life science, earth science, experiment, and scientific method. after this students were paired up and given a technology product. they had to list the pro's and cons of the product and discuss it. it went well, of course most students thought the cell phone was the most important product.

it was amazing how much time was taken up by all the "little" things. time is a definite enemy and the day can be too short to get everything done.

first week of school...with students

tuesday, september 2nd
well...after the awkward start of the 7th grade staff surprised at my arrival, things are off and running. it's been worked out that i'll spend the morning periods with ms. b and the afternoon with mrs. s. the first day with students went well...it was a little shaky due to the lack of class lists, both cooperating teachers were in the dark as to how many students they were expecting in each period. the activity for the first day was a scavenger hunt. the classrooms are divided by a big divider...which was pushed aside in the morning so that students had access to both sides of the room. i thought the idea of getting the kids up and moving around the room and familiarizing themselves with the room was a great one. i helped out and assisted students that had a lost look to them.

it was pretty cool noting the difference between the classes...the 1st and 3rd period classes were somewhat loud while 2nd period was awfully quiet. i had a rather lengthy discussion with one of the para's that was in the room and why a couple of students who couldn't read or write kept moving up in grade level...if comprehension isn't an issue, other teaching methods can be used but if a student isn't understanding what is being taught to them...why do schools keep passing them on?

In-service...Week One at JWMS

The first day started out on a bad foot...not overly so, but it was still awkward. I went into the office to introduce myself and to see if the principal was in his office...luckily for me, the secretaries were expecting me and Mr. J was there. He had sent out an email back in May to the four science teachers for 7th/8th grade science to notify them about a student teacher starting in fall...that email was the last and only communication about me until I walked in the door this past week. Mrs. S (I don't want use full names on the blog) happened to be standing outside of the office and was the first one I was introduced to...she also was the first one told that I'd be with the science department. She has become my head cooperating teacher. I wonder if someone else had been standing there, if they would've been my head coop. teacher instead. The second person I met was Ms. B...who I will be working with also...Mrs. S and Ms. B both teach 7th grade science. I'm happy with my placement...they keep apologizing about not being better prepared due to me falling in their laps...but I keep reassuring them that things are okay and we'll just go with the flow.

The first day was spent in meetings; district, school and 7th grade staff. The main thing that comes to mind was the lack of funding. A referendum failed to pass this past year and the effects are obvious at school. I met a lot of people, helped out in the classroom by putting up posters and photocopying handouts, etc.

The second day was also spent in staff meetings. Mrs. S and Ms. B decided to change around the order of topics to be taught...they're starting out with earth sciences during the first part of the quarter. I'm a life science gal, but I'm looking forward to the earth science unit. Some of the other meetings included computer training with a new online substitute teacher request program and "Power Teacher" which is an online system for attendance, grading, homework, etc,. There was a lot to learn with the power teacher program, but I thought it was a pretty cool system and if I remember correctly...it can be accessed at home too. I photocopied a lot of handouts for Mrs. S...which I don't mind at all...anything that I can do to help her out. She's letting me keep any of her handouts that I'd like to take...labs, vocabulary lists, etc. Her attitude is that teachers should share what works for them instead of keeping everything to themselves...it's a great way to learn and I agree with her.

The third day was just a little more of the same. We finally got class lists today so we were all able to prepare a little more for next week. Unfortunately, we all found out before the end of the day that the 7th grade class lists had errors in them and we might as well throw everything away (in regards to the previous lists). So, Tuesday is going to be a day of flying by the seat of our pants in regards to what students and how many will be walking through the door.