Background





Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Riding the Middle School Wave

Greetings! Welcome to the beginnings of my teacher blog. I have been blog-stalking lots of great teachers lately, and decided to take the plunge and start my own! Plans for the blog are sharing experiences and opinions about teaching middle school, cool internet finds, conferences, lessons, classroom decorations, organization ideas, professional and YA book reviews, and anything else that comes up that relates to teaching middle school. 


About me: I have been teaching for seven years. I've taught high school a time or two, but I MUCH prefer middle school! I've taught English, reading, journalism, and history. I took the past year off to stay home with my babies, Monkey (3 1/2 years) and Sis (18 months), but I'm ready to jump back in! My new school is a 40-minute interstate drive away, and it's significantly smaller than anywhere I've taught before. I also facilitate online professional development courses. I'm also a DIY-er and crafter. Anything that has to do with paint, mod podge, or wreaths is right up my alley. For this reason, I am totally addicted to Pinterest!


I'm a serious Type A personality. If you're familiar with the color personality test (gold/orange/blue/green), I maxed out the gold scale. I'm all about following the rules, being organized, having a plan and a back-up plan (honestly, if that's all I have I feel woefully under-prepared!), and whatever it is we are "supposed to" be doing. I'm not naturally one to question authority, and I believe rules are made to be followed, not broken! I have to be able to see the bottom of my email inbox at all times, and I'm a compulsive list maker. I seriously stress if I don't know exactly what is happening or what I'm supposed to be doing. (Example - I'm already stressing about taking my class to lunch the first day of school because I don't know exactly how they do it.) I have every unit I have ever taught in a binder. That binder contains one hard copy of every single thing to recreate that unit. When unpacking things in my classroom yesterday (yes, I know it's mid-June and school doesn't start for another two months. I just can't leave it for later!) I made sure that some of those (particular ones I knew I'd be using first semester) were on an open shelf where I can see them... because they calm me! Yes, I'm that crazy! :) HOWEVER... my co-workers know they can always come to me to ask for a handout we got at a faculty meeting seven months ago and I can put my hands on it in under thirty seconds. They may lovingly poke fun, but they know they benefit from it too!


I decided to name my blog "Riding the Middle School Wave" for a couple of reasons. The main reason is that middle school is all about change. You have to just go with the flow, or "ride the waves."  Flexibility is key! The second reason is that my new school mascot is the Green Wave! I haven't been to orientation yet, so I'm not 100% sure what that's all about, but it makes a nice coincidence. 


Anyway, I am glad you came to visit, and I hope you enjoy "Riding the Middle School Wave" with me!

1 comment:

  1. Well good luck ISBFF! I know you'll do great, especially since you have this nice head start.

    ReplyDelete