I have now officially put two years of teaching under my belt. What a wonderful feeling!

Despite a few of my challenging kiddos, I enjoyed this year so much more than last year. The first year of teaching is THE PITS.  You just have to muddle through. There are a lot of uncertainties- even things not directly related to my teaching, like firedrills, are scary.

Year Two gave me more confidence and certainty of what I was doing. I was able to use several items from the first year, or improve on them, cutting back on stress time quite a bit.  I also had a better feel of what to expect from my students. I was able to maintain higher standards with them and challenge many of them better. Even the “rubric system” (a system created by Robert Marzano where all assignments are graded as 1-4 in place of 1-100 pt scale. 1 is below expectations, 2 is basic, 3 is expectation met, and 4 is advanced. Students receive these grades in relation to specific skills that match state standards or expectations ) was easier to adapt to this year, though I will admit I don’t agree 100% with Marzano on a few of the things he tries to suggest in his writing.

Preparing for year three is getting pretty exciting. I am looking forward to opening the new middle school and the training opportunities I will have this summer for it. I actually only have a few weeks of summer available because I have over 4 weeks of trainings that I will be doing, plus the last week before students return is dedicated to district stuff and meetings.  I’ll get to move into my new room August 4th, so that will be AWESOME!

Meanwhile I guess I will be trying to clean up the house and possibly read a couple of good books. I have several that I would like to try to get to. I am finishing up the Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull. if you HAVEN’T read it yet, make it a priority. It possibly is as awesome as Harry Potter. I’ve read it all through once, but I am working on it again.

Bruce Coville FINALLY came out with the final installment of his Unicorn Chronicles series (years and years in the making). I am gonna have to read all of the books for that again too, though he is a fairly easy read. Start with Into the Land of the Unicorns. The last book is called The Last Hunt. 🙂

I also have heard from several students that The Maze Runner is a fabulous book, so I am making it a priority to read that sometime this summer too.

If you liked Percy Jackson and the Olympians series (like The Lightening Thief), Rick Riordan has just come out with a new series called The Kane Chronicles which has to do with Egyptian Mythology. Book 1 is called The Red Pyramid. I am hoping to check it out sometime this summer since I enjoyed his spin on Greek Mythology books so much .

Last but not least, the third book of The Hunger Games series comes out late August. I am SO psyched for Mockingjay. If you haven’t read that book yet, you REALLY REALLY should. I got a lot of my kiddos into the series this  past year, and they really loved both The Hunger Games and Catching Fire.

I had a few others that I wanted to read, but I can’t think of them off the top of my head. A couple of them are also professional development books for teaching, and since most of you AREN’T English teachers, they probably wouldn’t be that interesting for you.

I also have a lot to do with cleaning the house and yard projects this summer, so I definitely will be keeping busy. If you have any book suggestions for me as well, feel free to let me know! 🙂 I always enjoy a good book.