Post 1

The first six weeks of school have been a challenge. As I mentioned to some of you, I am without the aid of my team teacher. For those of you who are not familiar with team teaching, it works like this: two teachers occupy the same classroom and help one another in all aspects of instruction. In team teaching, you have two teachers with two separate rosters, which means classes can be larger. One of my classes has 42 children in it. Luckily, I have a WONDERFUL substitute. But, the substitute has no experience in broadcasting or video production, which leaves me teaching all four periods of the day. Not only am I teaching all day, I have to grade and record the grades of two teachers (my sub does some grading, but some assignments need a level of experience in the field in order to be graded fairly). Beyond the universal teacher's problem of too much to do, and not enough time to do it, my year is off to a great start. NTI has definitely helped. My goal at the beginning of NTI was to get more organized, and I have. With lesson plans done, I can focus on teaching and putting my energy into the day-to-day operation of my classroom, as opposed to worrying what I'll do next. I am making it my goal this year to improve the quality of my student's broadcasts and get more involved with my CTSO, Skills USA. Also, I'm trying to get better at paperwork which seems to be a constant struggle for "creative" types. So far, my goals for the year have not been overshadowed by the challenges at hand. Now that the groundwork has been laid, all I have to do now is keep my head down, and get the work done.