Hard to believe it's been two years since my last post, wow! It's been a bit crazy around here, but I'll talk about that later.
So we are embarking on another year in just two days. I have to say, I'm pretty excited! This will be year 5 at my campus, teaching both Algebra 2 and Precalculus. This is the first year that I am not really feeling the beginning of the year anxiety that usually sets in during our PD days. Really, this is quite amazing considering some of the significant changes that are happening this year.
First off, we have a new principal. He seems pretty awesome so far, but his leadership style is definitely different than the last principal, and I loved the last principal's style. I'm not really worried about working for someone new, but my hope is that he is present for the kids. We have a pretty awesome admin team with 4 assistant principals as well, but the principal's presence on campus is so important for the kiddos on our campus.
I also have 3 new teachers on my team, one of which was hired last week and has only been on our campus for two and a half days. I'm sure he's feeling a little anxious about starting with the kids already on Monday. So far, each one of our new team members brings something different to the team and I'm pretty excited about these new additions.
This year we are also starting a new intervention program with our math kiddos that have previously failed or are at risk for failing their Algebra 1 STAAR. I have a group of 8 freshman kiddos that I will be working with from day 1. In the past we have waited and started intervention sometime in the middle of the fall semester for repeat testers or the middle of spring for at-risk freshman, but this year we are getting our group of kids from day 1 so that we can first build a strong relationship with them before starting on the intervention work. The plan is to do SEL activities with them on Mondays, intervention work and tutorials Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and then Friday Fun day, which is reserved for team building and game activities. I'm especially looking forward to the Friday's because I love games, and many of our students have never played a board game or card game in their lives.
I really am hoping to be more intentional about reflection this year and hopefully some more regular blogging. I guess this is a start!
