My feelings have gone from sheer fear to giggly happiness and back to absolute terror!! The kids don't scare me (yet) but the content of which I may have forgotten the details is causing me some anxiety. But I am reading and rereading a lot of related content materials this summer as well as attending every (free) professional development opportunity possible and, as a result, I am feeling more and more confident each day. Here is a list of some of the better titles I've read (or am reading) to this point:
Help! I'm Teaching Middle School Science! by C. Jill Swango (NSTA)
Stop Faking It! Chemistry Basics by William C. Williams and Brian Diskin
Stop Faking It! Force and Motion by William C. Williams
Differentiating Instruction with Menus: Science (6-8) by Laurie Westphal
Achieving Scientific Literacy by Robert M. Hazen and James Trefil
Green Light Classrooms by Rich Allen (Also attended a professional development with the author)
So far...
Although they are no Fifty Shades of Gray (lol), they have all been relatively easy reads and I have taken some ideas from each of them that will be useful for this new journey. Love the Stop faking It Series anyway so they were reviews... The Menus look like a LOT of work but sooo worth it if the choices engage the kids to want to learn.
We shall see!
I am going to miss all the little decorations and bulletin board designs that come with an elementary classroom...uh, did I just say that... hmmmmm.... Maybe not :)
I did just buy the COOLEST framed Neo-painting of Albert Einstein for my classroom. I am sure I won't be able to completely walk away from the decor of my previous life, but I will certainly have to scale down. Hopefully, I'll keep you posted on how I handle it all :)
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