Pre-first day impressions
Today is my first day at my new country high school. The previous two days we've had teacher "inservice" days, which are like NYC "PD" days. Lots of meetings.
We had some meetings about Formative Assessment and Curriculum Design. The meetings were all about how we can better design our curriculum to meet the needs of struggling students. Some of the content area teachers were grumbling and saying "It's not my job to teach them basic skills." I couldn't help but compare, because in the city it's EVERYONE'S job to teach basic skills. No one complains, they do it, automatically. Everyone's lessons are filled with differentiation, and scaffolds. In fact I've got 4 years of nothing but those kinds of lessons. I feel VERY prepared, and a little confused on how schools can exist without those kinds of lessons already in place.
But I'll learn as I go, the culture of the school, the levels of the students. We'll see what time will say. I'm on my first prep right now, and my board is already set up for my first class. It's a chalk board. Yes folks, chalk boards DO still exist. I don't want to give my impressions of the kids yet, I'll save that for the end of the day.
We had some meetings about Formative Assessment and Curriculum Design. The meetings were all about how we can better design our curriculum to meet the needs of struggling students. Some of the content area teachers were grumbling and saying "It's not my job to teach them basic skills." I couldn't help but compare, because in the city it's EVERYONE'S job to teach basic skills. No one complains, they do it, automatically. Everyone's lessons are filled with differentiation, and scaffolds. In fact I've got 4 years of nothing but those kinds of lessons. I feel VERY prepared, and a little confused on how schools can exist without those kinds of lessons already in place.
But I'll learn as I go, the culture of the school, the levels of the students. We'll see what time will say. I'm on my first prep right now, and my board is already set up for my first class. It's a chalk board. Yes folks, chalk boards DO still exist. I don't want to give my impressions of the kids yet, I'll save that for the end of the day.