#teachingadventuresinmaine

By the end of the second week of Trimester 1 just about all of the routines for Reading and Writing Workshop are in place - it was an incredible learning curve but one that was helped by the unbelievably detailed notes AAM left me and ‘In the Middle,’ and ‘The Reading Zone,’ as reference guides to review processes and procedures.

What I’ve found is the Reading and Writing Workshop systems really give me something to lean against - what’s the saying – ‘a place for everything and everything in its place’? When something is not working it is possible to go back to the records to check what has gone awry. My records reflect the student’s records, and everything moves forward. It is possible to see who has engaged in the hour of writing homework over the weekend and who hasn’t read because there is a note right there from the previous day. I can see whether there is a pattern of behaviour  emerging that I need to address or whether there is a good reason such as a new book is more difficult than a previous title and the reading rate has slowed a little.

Now that I’m working in the school I’m aware of the bigger picture - how the staff work together to lay the foundations for their colleagues who will take the students after them. The teachers know the students and the students know the teachers and that’s one thing I’m very grateful for as someone in a relieving position. It’s also something that I reiterated to parents at Parent Night - there’s a community at the school and I’m operating as part of the team. Several of the grade 7 and 8 students have been at CTL since kindergarten and their peers have joined them along the way so the community has a shared history, too.

It is a little sad to consider tomorrow begins Week 7. The time has just flown which I think is a combination of learning the ropes, planning and preparing, giving feedback on student writing, and also squeezing in some sight-seeing over the weekends. I have also tried to meal prep (not super hard when working Monday to Thursday), keep up to date with the subject I am taking at university, and I have watched many episodes of 'Dawson's Creek.'

Picture 1. The view from my apartment. 

Picture 2. CTL

Picture 3. Standstill traffic before reaching Wiscasset due to the many visitors after a lobster roll or lobster dinner from Red's Eats.