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[StaceySue]

I know several of us are teachers.  I went into my classroom today to get started since I never seem to have enough time during inservice.  I plan to go back tomorrow, and then I hope I'll be able to stay away until next week.  Our inservice is Aug. 13-14.  School starts for the kids on Aug. 17.

I can't believe it's time already!  I'm excited as a teacher can only be at the beginning of the school year.  Everything is so full of hope and promise.

This year, I will only teach two weeks or so, and then I'll go on maternity leave. 

This may sound crazy, but we hope to take a day trip to SDC before my maternity leave is up in Oct.  Then, we've booked our Nov. weekend trip already for Christmas.   Time seems to be flying by.

So, teachers, I hope you have an awesome year!

[Swoosh]

Well as the resident band director, you probably already know that we really never have a summer break, we just sort of put things on hold long enough to run away from town for a week or two of "anything but band" related stuff.

We have our in-service 17-18 and get kids on the 19th.  This year will be interesting as we are going from a 7 period day to an 8 period day.  That will shave some time off each hour in order to accomodate that last period.  We'll see how that works. 

Have a busy fall ahead of us with 7 marching competitions spread out in September and October... and when we're not tied up with that we'll be at Faurot Field on home game days to cheer on the Tigers.

Never really ready to go back, but might as well get it over with so I can get back on a routine... before we know it will be Christmas break anyway.

[Joy]

I'm not a teacher, but I'm starting back to college the end of August after a three-school-year absence.... I'm kinda nervous, to be honest, which my friends and family would never believe. I'm one of those quiet, get-all-A's kinda students, but after being out of school for so long, I'm really nervous about getting back into the groove of things...

Good luck on the teachers' end; I know it can be rough. I've been close friends with a good number of my teachers, and it's amazing the trials and tribulations they live through just to be able to pass knowledge on to the next generation. I commend thee!

Joy

[StaceySue]

Swoosh-  I really respect teachers who spend so much of the summer working.  I am friends with one of our FFA teachers, and that poor girl spends so much of her time on her job.  God bless ya!

Our speech season starts at the end of October, and we'll do the school play this year in December instead of November.  My summers are pretty much my own, though.

We kicked around the idea of adding another period to the day, but it's not going to happen this year. 

Joy-- You'll do fine in school!  I'm pretty quiet myself, and when I first started teaching, I really had to pretend to be this outgoing person.  I'm working on my Master's one night per week, and I am still pretty quiet in my classes.  I really only speak when I feel I have something to contribute.

[Joy]

I'm just thankful I don't have any more science or math classes to do. From here on out, it's all classes I am actually interested in. I'm still shocked that I aced my Public Speech class... Didn't see *that* one coming...

At least the majority of the classes have to do with writing, so that's a very "quiet-person" type thing.

Joy

[rubedugans]

Ugghhh, don't mention the "S" word. I was there yesterday prepping the cafe for murals, and I have to report THURSDAY...yes this thursday Aug 6 for our first meeting day. Monday we have kiddos in! On the bright side we have a week long break in Oct. kinda like a Spring break in the fall so I can get a last push of SDC during the Crafts Festival time of year. This will be what amounts to year 7 for me so I am excited to see what is in store for it! Day 1 though I will be thinking " man I wish I was at SDC" wait that is everyday.

[History Buff]

Ready?  Who's ever ready?  June-July-August has become just June-July.  I spend my entire summer (every year for 20 years now) planning and revamping my class.  Our new teachers come back Thursday (in two days), and we greet them for the first five days.  Then, next Thursday, get my laptop replaced!  I always look forward to the first days and new beginnings, but I'm never quite are ready as I'd like to be.  Our Open House is Monday, the 17th and the first day back is Wednesday, the 19th.

My daughter begins kindergarten on the same day (different district), and I'm happy to report that she is more than ready!

[Swoosh]

My kids, well the ones that I have seen, seem to be ready to go back.
IDK, I guess I will grin and bear it when it gets here.  Yuck.

[History Buff]

This has been the roughest start to a school year that I've had in my 20 years in the profession.  Is anyone else fed up with the "trickle down" mandates in your district and in the state?  It seems like they keep whittling away at every free minute in the day - times when we traditionally plan, grade, record, and work with individual students.  Now I feel as if I can no longer effectively do my job.  I've never seen the pendulum swing this far.

[rubedugans]

Uggghhhh...We have been back in for officially 2 full weeks, and since then I have been told I have 3 MORE mandatory district assessments 2 formative, one summative per course (logged in and charted for AYP (Annual Yearly Progress for NCLB(No Child Left Behind)) purposes) and then our building just today told us about 4 more assessments building wide to chart our AYP in house. All entered through our computer system. Now figure this along with that I teach 6 subjects a day to Middle School students, and that amounts to YEP=23 Mandatory tests, not counting the chapter exams, pop quizzes, unit exams, finals, MAP testing. I hear ya' HB, I hear ya' you're preachin' to the choir on this un'. We are drowning and they are throwing us bricks. This just makes my SDC weekends a bit sweeter in the Fall and Spring!

[Swoosh]

IDK about you guys but when I get home I collapse on the sofa in exhaustion.  I am completely zapped and it has never been this way before.  We switched to 8 hour days this year and it is taking its toll on me.  I'm also sick of fighting with Lumen, our online grading system.  It has more bugs then it is worth.  Oh and on top of everything else that I have to do as Director of Bands, this is our year for MSIP review -- that will be loads of fun.  Our administration is already getting worked up on that -- not sure why, we've met AYP the last three years in a row so it will probably just be a "text book" review as opposed to a full one.  Whatever.

Oh is anyone else having their district adopt the "PBS" system for discipline?  Sounds like a bunch of crock to me.  There is no way it would work in band - band is way too miliatry-esque for a "positive behavior system"   

Personally, I will be happy when this first full week of school is over.

[docspeleo]

Just finished my first 4 days back in 6th Grade.  It was a pretty awesome week.. The students still are very reserved and quiet.  It would be nice to liven them up just a little.

PBS was an interesting discipline/behavior management system... it didn't seem to work well with the older students but in the elementary it worked great.

I'm busy rewriting my curriculum.  I didn't really like the textbook for reading so .. basically i'm working out of lit-sets and I think it's going to keep me pretty busy planning.

[History Buff]

Yes, it seems PBS is the latest thing to hit the fan and come splattering back to hit us in the faces.  They seem to be saying that if a child is misbehaving, it must be my fault, and I repent, bow to the kid, apologize, and take him to the park for cotton candy.  That should fix his behavior, right?

I'm telling you, a couple of nights ago, I just wanted to get in my truck and drive fast - and hit things on the way home.  I refuse to let my family and my church life suffer because of this nonsense.  Extra hours, more meetings, mandated assessments, red tape, daily schedule changes, and PBS - which one will be the the straw that breaks this camel's back?

It is nice (in some perverted way) that we're all dying together.

[rubedugans]

MMMM PBS!!!! we are in year #3 of that. Needless to say I am in the same boat as you all. I had to paint PBS words around the building this summer, and well it is running our schools behavior plans/ referrals. For some students it is good, but the older kids think it is a bit elementary, and too warm and fuzzy for them, so they reap the benefits of not getting into trouble when they do something stupid. And believe me, they do stupid things, then claim that they need a reward for their good behaviors to deter them from doing negative things. They are all still doing the same stuff they were when we were on board with Character Education, and whatever others we have had in the past 10 years here. It will...like everything else...pass with the entrance of another education guru philosophy, and heck that'd be great to start a movement like that, get rich off of it, and sell it to all the schools through conferences/training/text/workshops etc. even it it does or doesn't work!

[Swoosh]

Well I'm definitely not helping the "movement" at all at our district because anytime PBS is mentioned I always make the accronymn mean something different, by saying oh you mean (Peanut Butter Sandwich, Public Broadcasting Service, Pure Bull S#!T, etc.)

This is our "planning" year and I guess we're going to "implement" next year.  Whatever.  We did the Character Ed a couple of years ago and it feel flat within a month.  This too will pass I'm sure without much fanfare.  It just won't work in Band, you can't try to implement "warm fuzzies" on something as military-esque as band. 

Sort of changing topics, but is it true they did away with the STARR program?  We haven't had one of those "teachers" visit our school in a couple years now because the last one to visit our school got laughed at because her "ideas" was so lucrative.