April 10, 2008

Time on My Hands: Utilizing My Mad Skillz

As I have a student teacher in my classroom this semester, I have a lot of time on my hands to wander about the school. I thought it would be really boring, but somehow I keep myself pretty busy.

For a couple of weeks I parked myself in the foreign language language department and worked on the yearbook. (Originally I planned to camp out on the super comfy lounge couches, but there's no wireless Internet there. Strange and inconvenient!) I'll admit that the during the last yearbook deadline of each year, I'm hardly the exemplary teacher to my English students. Taking note on the hours I put in each day working on the book while I was not teaching this year really drove home the idea. Lots of work. That's why they pay me the big bucks. Sheesh.

As it turns out, my yearbook skills keep me busy long after the yearbook has been submitted.

Today I spent quite a bit of my day doing photo work--taking some and finding some from my archives. The aide in the contained special education room flagged me down from the hallway and asked if I had anything to make a scrapbook for her student to send to the feeder elementary school. Materials to make scrapbooks? No. Photos? Sure. I didn't have pictures of every student in the class, so I did an impromptu photo shoot. Afterward, I uploaded and adjusted the pictures right in the classroom. What was life like before the digital camera?

Later in the day, the magnet coordinator reminded me that a few months ago I told her that the pictures on the recruiting board were boring. Sounds like a personal issue, huh? Yeah, mine! I don't remember telling her that, but it does sound like something I might have said. So, I went digging into the files looking for photos of magnet students and events that might better illustrate our program. Recruiting season is over, but we're off to Chattanooga later this month for the Magnet Schools of America Conference, thus our board needs revamped so we can REPRESENT, yo! I offered to help put the board together, but frankly that was foolish of me. I'm no better at boards than I am scrapbooks.

How about fliers? I volunteered to make up fliers for the upcoming poetry slam. Something to get the students hyped up. Just so you know, I'll probably try too hard to make it look cool or just so. That's okay though. I have some extra time.

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