This is the first Saturday of the 2010-2011 school year. I find myself exhausted which usually happens as I adjust to the new year. It should improve over the couple of weeks and I will be totally in my back to school mode. This exhaustion means that I have not kept up with my PLN on Twitter or other sites I like to visit as often as I wish. This should improve as the weeks progress.
The first week was relatively uneventful. It started with putting our computer lab back together because it apparently got left mostly done. Lots of plugging in cables and situating supplies around the room. I missed a plug so the first day that students turned on the computers, five of them would not work. A little detective work and some crawling around the floor and it was fixed. Freshmen did not know their passwords because for some reason we change them when the kids come to the high school. Some of my older student's don't remember them either and I had to contact our sysops who were helpful in giving me the information so students could find success. Later in the week, student passwords were posted on our PLC blackboard site.
It took three days to get the heat in my room fixed. The first three days were FREEZING. I posted a picture of the thermometer on my desk reading 64 degrees. After two days of emails with our building superintendent, I called and said that something had to be done. Someone came in Friday morning and fixed something in the exchange unit and we got warm...well too warm is it got the upper 70s. I requested that we step back a couple of degrees and they adjusted the computer. Hopefully, we won't deal with this issue again. I had male athletes coming with coats and hoodies - it was that chilly.
I still have not been able to lay eyes on two of the books that I need for my marketing and entrepreneurship classes. Fortunately, I do not use a book in those classes for the first couple of weeks. However, it would be great to be able to see what the college expects my students to learn since we have signed a new articulation agreement with Cazenovia College.
With the downsizing we had in our building last year, we are down 10 sections of social studies electives. My department is seeing an increase in our enrollment which is great for us. We will continue to provide students the knowledge and skills they can use in their daily lives. I am back to having three classes totally full with 30 kids. My two classes with seats left only have a few. This means I will be very busy this year trying to talk to each student every day. So far, my students all seem excited to be in my class and have contributed to our discussions. A couple of them going to switch to something else because they don't like the idea of having to talk in front of others. I do a great deal of getting students to stand up and talk to their classes because it is such an important skill for life.
We created our "branding of me" boxes this week in marketing. I have tons of sports nuts if their boxes are any indication. My law students had discussions on laws they like and dislike. Friday we completed a competitive scavenger hunt online. In ownership, we started looking at ideas for businesses and we discussed what is missing in our town.
This week we will start some blogging, social bookmarking using diigo, and creating a glog for a project.
In between resting for school, I had to balance the needs of my own high school and college sophomore. My dd is commuting this year to save some money so she had two long days and then works some hours to continue to earn money. My son is on the varsity golf team and his game is struggling. He was medalist on the first day of school with a par round and then his scores increased the next two days capping off at a 50! on Thursday - ugh is all we said. He has an extra study hall this year as he could not get the electives he wanted because of his district's budget cuts :-(. My oldest is trying to get her practicum at her old high school or mine so she can continue her path to becoming a social studies teacher.
