On the growth of proper plans. . .

I've done more serious planning in the last hour than I have in the previous month. That's not to say I didn't plan lessons; I did. I just planned them based on formats I knew so well, I didn't have to write them down for myself. My research model is a classic example. Whenever I'm stuck for a lesson or lessons are winding down a week before a break, I run to the library, pull every book off the shelf that deals with a certain topic that's connected to recent lessons, and we do a research project. It takes three or four classes, longer if I've never done one with that class before, and I don't have to really plan any of them.

I have planned the next three weeks of social studies, with no resources whatsoever other than my own prodigious memory for historical fact. (I love that about myself - I can pull notes and lessons out of my head, because I remember the connections and the interesting bits from when I learned it. In this case, all three weeks of lessons are based on an hour-long tour of the Ancient Civs section of the Louvre, the first weekend in April eleven years ago. It was Good Friday, and that was the second museum we'd visited that day, after a six-hour drive that began at 4:00 a.m.) The problem is, "resources in my head" doesn't cut it for my principal, so I had to write them down. By the time I'm done this unit, I'll have a lovely little unit to pitch to Scholastic to replace their (outdated, hard to follow, overly-simplistic) Ancient Civs stuff.

I've planned my math unit for the next week and a half, which is mostly about looking ahead in the text and planning which page we're doing which day. But it's all laid out - I even know when the test will be.

The only thing left to plan is the literacy block, which will take more time and effort since this is the area I most need to work on. Teaching reading, or writing, comes easily to me; it's the organization of the class so that everyone is doing something different but equally productive - that's the tough part. I'm starting at least one literacy centre next week, hopefully two, and in the meantime, I'm brushing up on guided reading techniques. The fact that one of those lit centres will be a research one - well, that's about going with what I know. :)

Bell's about to ring, so I have to go. Happy Friday everyone!

Yay, Friday!

There's been a PoAC brewing for some days now, but it isn't going to happen this evening. I simply do not have the mental energy.

I'm really looking forward to gaming this evening, after the long drought. Truly, I love Christmas, I love doing things at Christmas, but this is one part of the regular routine that I really, really miss. With any luck, etherlad has been missing it too, and therefore has some extra-special stuff planned for us to tackle.

About six of my kids were away today. Three are Orthodox, so I wasn't expecting them. The other three are either sick or staying home because they thought it would be a no-work day due to Orthodox Christmas.

My plans for Monday are ready except for two subjects. Sad to say, one of those is French. Without the speeches unit, I'm at loose ends for that. I think I might - oh, horror of horrors! - use a published unit for a few weeks. If nothing else, it gives me a break. The problem is, this unit hasn't been used in so long that I can't find the actual manual for it. I have all the photocopiable resources and student books, but no manual!

I just realized I forgot to get the CD for Smart Ideas from the LRT before leaving school. I guess I'm typing up that note the old-fashioned way - in Word. I'll transfer it to SI on Monday.

I'm going downstairs to watch Veggietales, at the request of a certain little lady who is actually asking for "cedu". I'm getting very tired of Veggietales, but hey - it keeps her busy.