First Days of School

So....the kids will be there on Monday. I feel SO not yet ready. I'm going up to the school tomorrow to try and write some lesson plans. I don't have to turn them in, but I also don't want to be standing up there without a plan on the first day. I have a vague plan in my head, but I need it on paper in Monroe format.

The district adopted this wierd Madeline Hunter Lesson Plan thing (I blogged about it before). Her theories seem cool and make sense....the little boxes on the paper that I have to fit my ideas into don't. I think basically I'll be writing my lesson plans the way I always have and then writing them into the boxes somewhat haphazardly. Maybe one day I'll figure out how to think in those boxes, but it won't be tomorrow.

I found these awesome posters in my room. They're black and white apple advertisements that have pictures of historical figures and say "Think Different". I've got Gandi, Amelia Earhart, Lennon and Yoko Ono, Einstein, and one other one I can't remember right now. I got online to see if maybe I could request some free ones from apple, since I'm a teacher and all and they're just publicity photos....instead I found this: http://http://redlightrunner.stores.yahoo.net/rarthinpos.html. Apparently, these things are discontinued and ONE poster is worth about $300. Everyone I've mentioned this to has basically said, "Get them off of your walls." But I just don't really care. They're laminated and kinda dirty and wrinkly and probably not worth that much. Honestly, I think my kids knowing who Gandi is is worth $300....of course, I won't be purchasing anymore, though. I also don't think anyone else knows what they're worth, so they're not going anywhere....

My coworkers at school are great. My department is great. Nothing really to complain about, except being overwhelmed. Apparently my school is definitely #2 in the district and possibly moving up to #1 (A certain high school that used to be the level 5 had FOURTEEN failures on their history test, we had 3). I feel a strange sense of pride in that, even though I wasn't even there yet when they took the test.