Teaching Fifth Grade

There are so many emails I receive that I just don't understand.  Cycle of Inquiry Draft Schedule.  Union News.  Prep Schedule Inequity.  Preferred dates for field trips based on prep/testing schedules... for March.  How should I know?  How should I know the answers to anything.

I feel like totally mindblown about how I'm supposed to make this curriculum connect to the standards. And a lot of the time I feel like I don't even know what the curriculum is supposed to be.  When I was hired it was "We collaborate on everything."  Now they've added, "But we all do our own thing really."  So I ask about the math program and get three ideas on how to launch the it and even what it is.

I'm in the farthest corner of campus in a little portable.  I feel like I'm hiding in a darkened corner of the homecoming dance my freshman year.

And then back to the fuss about standards.  Am I teaching to those?  How do I know?  They give me these workbooks and textbooks and curriculum maps and pacing guides and... do they teach the standards?  I've been teaching for 3 weeks, and aside from reading the English Language Arts Standards once, I couldn't tell you for the life of me what they are.  Why was this so much less complicated in VA?  Is it just the beginning of the school year?  B/c we're establishing routines and stuff?

And then people talk about "Grade Level" all the time.  So I'm giving all these assessments I've been given, and let's just talk about how I don' t know what score equals grade level.  And then the kids are like "when are we going to do our first play?" And did you know there's no art teacher?  And I don't think classroom teachers are responsible for picking up the slack.  So yeah, no art instruction.  So yeah... note to self, hope I don't forget that.

That being said, I really enjoy the things I DO understand.  Leading groups of kids.  Talking about writing (though I have no idea what fifth grade reading strategies are).  The few days I have time for Social Studies/Geography.

And being on a schedule is really great for me.

I've been grocery shopping two weekends in a row.  I'll probably do laundry this weekend.  I eat/cook every night and drink alone less.  I'm planning on reordering my CSA to make sure I have variety of fresh, local, organic veggies.  And as much as I ADORE William, having limited access to him (i.e. only a couple times on Skype) is probably really helpful for this "being a productive adult" thing.  Because if I could just call him up to go out exploring, God knows I wouldn't be wasting time on groceries and laundry.