Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » The Start of School 2013

Reflections on Teaching » Blog Archive » The Start of School 2013:

The Start of School 2013

It’s the start of another school year, and I must say I’m looking forward to it. August was a hard month outside of the classroom (read here formore), but I was starting to excited about this year starting at the end of July.I haven’t spent every waking hour this summer, or even in August, thinking about my class, but what thoughts I’ve had have made me happy, and most fill me with optimism about the school year to come. Why is this?

• I like the 11 and 12 year olds. Not every moment of every day, because it is a difficult age; not just for us dealing with them, but for the kids themselves. Still from that agony comes a lot of interesting thinking, and creative work.
• I like the Social Studies/History curriculum covering early humans, and ancient civilizations. Earth Science is okay. I’d prefer the broader elementary curriculum of fifth grade in science, but the social studies coverage of early humans gets some more biology in the mix.
• I like that my site is not “buying” its way into Common Core, but