Friday before

It's the Friday before school starts for the students. As most educators would guess, I'm approaching overwhelmed. The good news is that the teachers with whom I work are amazing.

I teach English III Standard and honors. I also teach World History Standard and Honors.

My English department chair teaches the same English classes that I teach, and she has been a wealth of information and guidance. As time goes on you will see that I gravitate to people who have strength where I have weakness. She could very well be the most organized person I have ever known in this business. I am not.

We spent this morning going over schedules, policy, scope and sequence and delivery. We make extensive use of Blackboard in this school and the district as a whole. She was so helpful setting up my Blackboard classes.

The benefit to this kind of technology is that you front load the work. If you plan and upload things correctly and in a timely fashion, your work grading and your time spent in direct instruction decreases precipitously. Then you can spend more time in feedback and one-on-one instruction.

Stay tuned. There's more to come. Wait until I tell you about my neighbor John.

First Post

The 2008-09 school year will be my 5th as a teacher. It will be my first year at what I consider the most progressive concept in Texas public education, The Academy of Irving ISD. I intend this year to be the one in which I will take the next step in my evolution as an educator. The purpose of this blog is to chronicle the transformation.