Time

I've been busy this summer with lesson planning and a little quilting.

 Last year was a bit on the crazy side with switching the curriculum for both subjects I teach.  Freshman year used to be earth science with teaching about water for a semester. We taught the properties of water and where water is found in California. It was a great unit and had a lot of fun, hands on labs to go with it. I had been doing that for 17 years.

 Then, along comes the Next Generation Science Standards and everything changed.  We've been working on the standards for about four years now. The goal is to make sure that by the time all students leave high school they have all of the science standards covered.

 It's not an easy task. Two years of science are required for graduation and three are required if they want to attend a four year college like a state or University level. I would say about 75% of our students take 3 years of science and about 40% take four years. That means only 40% of the students are getting physics, which is a pretty important concept for life.

 Kids are always complaining that they will never use the things they learn in school and since the other sciences build on physics concepts we decided to move physics to the freshman year.  I know! That meant I had to learn physics all over again. Crazy talk here people... I'm old. I can't learn new things. Well, actually I can and it was fun.

 We re-arranged all of the concepts we had been teaching from four years into three years and took the earth science from freshman year and incorporated them into the other subjects.  So now the kids get physics and earth science, biology and earth science and chemistry and earth science. There are more labs and hands on activities which is the best part of science.

 Here's the problem. I don't have a credential to teach physics! I actually worked myself out of a job. So, I've been working on getting my physics credential. I went back to college this summer and took a physics class and stretched my poor old brain.  But, I didn't die and learned a few things. I've bought almost every book there is on physics and have been reading like crazy and try to learn at least one new thing a day. Turns out when you use your brain, learning gets easier. Who knew?

 I'm excited to get back to school and work on some more exciting labs for the kids. I love teaching because every year is a fresh start. The kids don't remember what last year was like and there's always the excitement at the beginning of the year for teachers and students.

 I won the District and County teacher of the year and now am in the process of completing the State Teacher of the year application.  It is a lot of work, but I'm learning a lot about myself as a teacher. It is really making me think about why I do what I do and searching out new ways to achieve my goals. My daughter is helping me edit my words. She completed her novel and is waiting to hear back from her agent. She is getting ready for the next chapter of her life, moving from Miami to Cleveland to teach at an all girl's private school where she will teach AP English and coach tennis. I love seeing all of her hard work pay off.

Here's to finding the time to come back and share my life and quilts again.