Wax On, Wax Off

I made the trek to school today, a wonderful 25 minute jaunt because it wasn't rush hour. When I arrived I nearly had a heart attack. The floors were being waxed, common for this time of year in schools across the country. What in the world was I going to do? Thankfully my room opens to the outside, and the door was unlocked (courtesy of our janitor! so great!).

I was able to get quite a bit done today. When I left last week they were getting set to re-wax the tile area in my room, which needed to cure before I could move anything. That was all set, so I was able to scoot desks, tables and computers around. I moved our computers back to where they were, taping their Ethernet cords to the wall so that they are mildly inconspicuous. I unflipped the desks that were in a giant cluster, putting them into some approximation of what my classroom will look like. I was also able to return some of my instructional materials (teaching guides) that I won't need to look at in the next two weeks (at least not at home, as some of those are still in the home office). Novels were also moved on top of one of the bookcases, creating another shelf since a majority of them will sit there until used for my various novel studies.

What are the next steps? Getting the physical space looking good is a great start. Next is making notes about what content I will teach, and how I want to teach it. I also need to look at the sequence so that I am sure it makes sense. I'll make other adjustments once the year gets rolling, but you need to start somewhere.

I am using the tool which I am using for my novel study summaries, OneNote, for my curriculum planning. Instead of oodles of notebook paper that I won't refer back to, I have a document that I am excited to add and revise to. I am using a new OneNote document for each curricular area that I teach (Reading, Writing, Social Studies), with different tabs for expectations and units. Thus far I couldn't be happier.