Free association on beginning a new assignment

Hello everyone,

I've been thinking that for the next few days, I would let you into my thought processes as I transition back into the classroom after my two-year hiatus from teaching. I now many of the middle school teachers won't see this email until after the summer is over, and Garfield's C-trackers are still on vacation, but I thought it might be useful for you to know what goes through the mind of an aging veteran as he makes some major career changes.

Let me free associate, if you don't mind.

I'm nervous about going back. I expected that I would--maybe after five years instead of just two, but I missed teaching and have been thinking anyway about how I would go back. Still, I'm nervous. This will be a new show in a new town with a new script and an aging actor. Can I still hold an audience? Have I lost my chops? Are my organizational instincts in line with the new curricular changes?

Summer school will give me a chance to practice on my general pedagogy, but I won't be teaching the same subject at Lincoln's summer school that I'll be teaching at Wilson's regular school.

Wilson's on a "four by four Copernican block schedule" (if I understand it correctly) and my entire sense of timing must be readjusted. Luckily, it's similar to the summer school schedule, but I suspect that it will take me a year to get it down. I need to have "filler activities" in mind in case my timing is too short or too long.

I gave away most of my files because someone needed my file cabinet last year, and someone else needed my files. I will be rebuilding my file collection. That's not bad. Most of my files needed work anyway.

How much do I want to change my classroom practice? It causes me anxiety, but I think it might be fun to see what changes can do for me.

I have thought about my classroom rules. I like to keep my rules simple: Be respectful; do your duty; respect the community. The first allows me to have some flexibility on such things as raising their hands or talking in groups, but I can teach them what respect looks and sounds like. Doing their duty means being on time and doing their work. Respecting the community is a new rule for me, but I don't know the school rules at either Lincoln or Wilson, so it would allow me to give the general rule at both places without having to worry about specifics until I get there.

It might be more poetic to rephrase the rules this way: Respect the class; respect the community; do your duty. Easy to remember that way. I could make it a poster--a mantra--a slogan. Respect---respect--do. I think it covers everything.

I'm looking at planning for the fall. This will be the first time in 17 years I'll be on traditional calendar. I've done it before, but I'm having a really hard time fixing the semester break in my mind. It's supposed to be in February, but I'm used to thinking of at the winter break in December. I need to sit down with a calendar and work it out. That means that, under the Copernican system, I'll teach an entire year's worth of course work from September to February, with lots of holidays in the fall and a three-week break three-fourths of the way through the semester. I need to program some heavy review after Thanksgiving and again at New Year's. In the spring, I'll have a one-week break halfway, which should seem natural, but the rest will be long and tedious. I need to plan for that.

Grammar is always a problem in English. It's usually as boring for the teacher as it is for the students. I don't know how accustomed to grammar the Lincoln and Wilson kids are. Garfield never knew much of it. Here, I could pretty much start at the same grammatical place whether I was teaching 9th or 11th grade. Of course, it's easy to jump from parts of speech to subordinate clauses if the kids are ready for it. I'll have to see after my initial assessments.

I'll do some serious planning tomorrow.

Jeff Combe