Just a quick introduction...

Hello dear friends and family!

I know I had a blog for Jerusalem, but I wanted to start a blog to share my teaching stories with you. It's only been a week, and I already have some great ones.
First and foremost, I need to explain a few things. Due to confidentiality, I can't say any names, so I will make them up. I also won't say which school I work at, but suffice it to say, I work at a middle school with 7th and 8th graders. Lastly, I can't post any pictures of my students, so this blog will be filled mostly with words. I might add pictures of my classroom, or myself (heehee), but there will be no pictures of my actual students. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I just graduated from BYU in Special Education, and I accepted a job in Provo, UT.
I live less than five minutes away from the school, which allows me to ride my bicycle to work. I love riding my bike because it is economical, and it gives me a few minutes of physical activity and fresh air. Sadly, I haven't been able to ride my bike because the tire has a hole in it. Every time I wake up, the tire is flat...definitely not a good thing. So, poor Alyssa has had to wake up early to take me to work. (she's not a fan of waking up before 7:00am...but then again, neither am I)

This week has been crazy and I put in 12 hour days about every day. I would arrive at the school between 7:15 and 7:30, and then leave some time after 6:00pm. Yikes.

As for what I teach, my schedule is as follows:

PERIOD 1: Resource Learning
PERIOD 2: Resource Learning
PERIOD 3: prep time
PERIOD 4: Resource Learning

lunch

PERIOD 5: prep time
PERIOD 6: Writing Skills
PERIOD 7: Resource Learning

Resource Learning is the catch all class. There is a resource math teacher, a resource reading/writing teacher, so I am there to help with the other classes such as History, Science, etc. Resource Learning is also meant to help teach the students organization skills, planning, advocacy, etc. I also keep track of all of their classes, and we graph their grades in each of their classes once a week. Hopefully that gives you an idea of what Resource Learning is about.
Writing Skills is an addition to their English classes. It is meant to slow things down, re-teach when necessary, practice writing and grammar, etc.

I don't know how I ended up with two prep periods, but I'm not complaining. We'll see how long it lasts! I'm certainly not complaining. :)

There is a quick introduction about what I am up to Monday - Friday.

-Ms. Damron-