Checking in...and a fun giveaway!

I love great ideas and get really excited when I see or hear of one. The latest great idea comes from my friend and blogging sister, Lauren! She found a way to get lots of replies, followers, and shout-outs to her blog by doing a simple giveaway! Genius!! Check it out here and enter to win the yummy prize! :) AND, I learned how to include a link in this blog without having to include the entire URL, thanks, Lauren, for the much-needed lesson!

In teaching news, the job is getting much better now that I am finding my niche. Planning lessons for four subjects is a bit crazy and it was consuming all of my time. Not to mention the need for differentiated instruction within those lessons...I was finding myself not even getting to that oh-so important part because I would run out of time. My students NEED that differentiation because they are all on different levels and all have learning exceptionalities...it's the nature and foundation of this school! We are entering the second quarter on Monday and I feel I finally have a good grasp on teaching these students and meeting their learning needs. It took a while for me to get it and to get to know them, but I have come to the realization that my students need lessons in life skills JUST AS MUCH as they need lessons in the content. So, I am revamping my teaching style this quarter to include those lessons and we'll see where it goes!

Whatever I'm doing content-wise seems to be working, though...I had one of my lower-performing students come to me yesterday morning before school to tell me he needed help with the material that would be on yesterday's test. Up to that moment, I didn't think he was really comrehending too much of the Chemistry content, until I started going through the concepts and asking him questions. I asked him questions pertaining to every section on the test, and he answered all of them correctly! These are the moments teachers live for...I am so proud of him! :)