Day 5 - July 8

Tuesday.

My new pal took me to school with her today. I had the opportunity to see my new classroom. It's huge! I have a a chemical storage room, extra storage room and classroom. My classroom has amazing light. (Did I mention that its huge?) I have a small section that reminds me of a greenhouse. The lab tables are octagon shaped. My classroom side of the room has a huge white board and new smart board. Did I mention that I have a hood? I have a hood in my classroom. If only Dr. Huhtanen or Dr. Opoku-Duah or Mr. Wells could see me now. They would be so proud of how far I've come as a science student. 

The teacher that I'm replacing worked at the school for 22 years. I like to refer to myself as the dead dog replacement. You have a dog and its the best dog you have ever had in your life. Amazing dog. Then that dog got old and passed on. Now you get another dog and that dog just isn't as good as the other dog. :) 

The previous science teacher left me everything and his tennis shoes to fill. I found my textbooks hiding in a cabinet. I found the lesson plans clearly organized and neat in a cabinet. I like his approach to teaching. Students clearly knew the expectations and standards of his classroom. Students were given work that explained what you needed to complete to receive a minimum grade of C. It was the C level. If you wanted to try to earn a B, you must complete all C level work and B level work for the chance at a B. For a chance at an A, you completed all three levels. I am going to continue this. This would not have worked at my last placement. Students would have only done the C work and been happy. 

I took home the syllabi to study and work up my own version. This year I will teach 1 physical science class, 1 chemistry class, 1 physics class and 2 basic chemistry class. Four preps! I will only have 4 preps! I had so many preps in the past, that I would get anxiety attacks about them. Okay, not really anxiety attacks, but I would go insane from having to switch topics all the time. 

Some of the boxes arrived today! We have more food and stuff to put away. We are going to need to get a shelf for our pantry for our growing stockpile. 

Tonight for dinner, Toby and I went to The Northern Lights which is across the street. The girls really wanted ramen for dinner so we let them stay at home. The restaurant had lots of different food items on it. A can of soda was $2. We shared chicken wings, french sub with fries and calzone. For dessert we had a cheesecake slice. We were stuffed as toads. 

We went home and took the girls back to the library. Yes, we go twice a day because its fun and free. We left the library at 8pm. Its strange to see daylight at 8pm. Your body inside the library says, "I'm tired its 8pm." You walk outside and your body is like, "Nope, no sleep." We walked to the AC store and picked up some chips on sale for $3.50.  Then headed home to put the shades down and get ready for bed.