We’ve been in school for a total of six days and even though everything still feels new, many things are starting to feel familiar.

We’re staying close to the bell schedule…most of the time. Except for this afternoon when the music teacher showed up at our door to pick up the class because I was already five minutes late. I know this may seem petty, but I struggle with sticking to a schedule. I’ll often go over the time I set for a task or a mini lesson and then berate myself for dong so. That doesn’t mean I’m not flexible. On the contrary. If something comes up in class and I need to change the direction or the order of things, I will. I want to feel that we’re taking advantage of the time we have to accomplish important work every day.

Students are asking, “Can I…” and I’m responding with, “Yes, you can.” Sometimes it’s hard, but if I’m really about student voice and empowerment, then how can I answer otherwise? I will check in later with them to see what they’ve done and how it went.

So, we’re intentionally moving slowly; I’m not trying to speed up. On the contrary, I’m going for even a little more depth than breadth this year than last year.

Even though it has only been a few days, I think I have made some visible progress in my quest to get my new students to love reading, writing and math, in particular. They seem not to have a problem with science and social studies.

I am sharing lots of new middle grades books and authors with my students. I want to immerse my class in great writing to help them become great writers.

I’ve been able to sit back and read and write with my class before going around to do one-on-one conferences.

I’m still working through my note taking procedures, but I’m always doing that. I am never completely satisfied with whatever system I’ve set. Maybe that’s the nature of the beast. It seems like I’m always experimenting some more.

Not a bad start to the year!

Cross posted to Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Tuesday.