Prepping for YEAR #3!

We're back from our little "Tour USA" roommate-bonding-vacation experience! 

Back just in time for the start of the new school year! Apparently, I've forgotten how much work it takes the month of August to prepare for the new school year starting in September. 

On my to-do list this past week and this weekend: 

• move in all my supplies to my room in the Bronx (shout out to my roomie for letting me borrow his car for this... he's the only one that owns a car out of the four of us in the house) 
• buy classroom and school supplies (aka deal hunting across four boroughs)
• get lesson plans finalized, units finalized, IEP's read and discussed, push-in teacher support discussed, Common Core integrated into my lessons, new classroom policies and procedures, class Facebook account updated, student surveys made... 
• get my first day of school outfit ready!! 
• meet with my in-school mentor and Teachers College, Columbia University mentor
• get grad school course schedule prepared and finalized
• write a letter to parents
• meet with my principal to discuss goals for this year
• co-plan lessons with the other teachers
• meet our school's new teachers for this year
• hang out with old friends from high school (ahhh they were freshmen when I was a senior! yeah we go back way far!) 
• analyze scores of my incoming students on their NYS exams and prepare lessons to remedy common errors and weaknesses 
• rewrite my Integrated Algebra syllabus to update it with changes I've came up with over the summer 

That all being said, I am SO EXCITED TO MEET MY NEW STUDENTS. Unlike last year's students, this incoming group is commended by their 7th grade teachers as well-behaved and eager to learn meaning my job will be significantly easier. Now that I'm entering my third year with 8th graders, third year teaching 8th grade NYS math and second year teaching Integrated Algebra, I no longer have that "first year teacher" feel. The students know me and I already know some of them. And most of all, I feel completely confident in front of the class.

I remember student teaching up until this point in my career now. Each year brings new faces, new challenges and new rewards. 

To supplement my income this year, I am still tutoring GED with the City but also privately tutoring middle/high school math (including AP and SAT/ACT) and middle/high school Spanish (including AP and SATII)... on top of finishing up at Teachers College, Columbia University. 

I'm REALLY going to keep my readers on track this year with my teaching adventures... so consider this the before-school year post:) 

now, time for a nap. i am exhausted. #teacherproblems