Almost time for back to school…..dun dun dun. Yup. Summer went by in a flash. It was expected to though. I am in denial about going back kind of happy to get back to work. There’s only so much HGTV & Food Network one can watch and Pinterest-ing one can do without feeling like a lazy, good-for-nothing pile of crap. Plus, you know, the whole getting paid thing is nice too. Contrary to what most people think teachers do not get paid in the summer!! It’s nice to have summer off but by the end of summer I NEED to start working again. It’s kind of like if you asked your boss for two unpaid months off. It’d be awesome, but eventually the bills need to get paid.
That being said, today I visited my classroom to set some stuff. Last year I had tons of ideas on the blog about catering your classroom to the common core. This year, the incoming 8th graders are supposed to be notoriously disorganized, so I’ve set up my room to support them to be successful. I designed one side of my wall with a chalkboard I’ll update every week that includes the essential question (what the students will be learning), an “I Can…” statement (what they will be able to do at the end of the lesson), HW that is due, and HW for that night. This way, no student will can ever say he didn’t know what was due when, etc. I have a feeling it might be hard to keep up with a little, and there’s no saying it won’t change from day to day. But I feel like the students NEED to know what they are supposed to be learning every day, and have a measurable “I Can” statement.
![IMG_3035[1]](https://aburgwin.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/img_30351.jpg "IMG_3035[1]")
![IMG_3036[1]](https://aburgwin.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/img_30361.jpg "IMG_3036[1]")
Now if I could only find my chalk…..
I also added some more goofy posters with quotes to make it look like I’m a cool teacher.
HA HA get it?
Punctuation!!!
![IMG_3037[1]](https://aburgwin.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/img_30371.jpg "IMG_3037[1]")
My favorite book of all time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Surprisingly, To Kill a Mockingbird is on the 8th grade common core list!!! I’m not doing it this year but I can’t wait to do it in the future. I just hope 8th graders can deal with all the language….another blog post for another day.
7 more days!!!!
What organizational details are you adding to your classroom this year?
Pencils and Pancakes 
Hold. The. Phones. You don’t get paid in the summer??? I do! Every teacher I know does! I am appalled for you and for the other teachers in your district! That totally sucks. In other news though, those posters are super awesome–especially the baby seals. 🙂
Well we can opt to get paid. Which basically means the school just holds part of your paycheck throughout the year and gives it to you in one lump sum in June, but I really don’t need the school to save my money for me so I just get 21 paychecks. I mean I make the same per year no matter what.
I am such a grammar police! (even though sometimes I ignore stuff, but as far as commas and all that go – I’m on it!) so the seal thing really got me haha