One Month Into the School Year
Interims are already about to come out. However, in other ways, the school barely seems to be in session. We still haven't had our first PACE class; an International Baccalaureate Program introduction/remediation time period that we were supposed to have beginning with the first week of school. For the most part, I like my classes and my teachers. But I'm a whole lot more forgiving than most of my classmates.
Science
My teacher is a soft-spoken woman from the Dominican Republic. This year we are studying introductory chemistry and introductory physics. Part of science class every year is the science fair. For over a year, many of the science teachers have been vying for virtual science boards and this year they have finally succeeded.
P.E.
This is the only class that I know I'm going to have a field trip for. In fact, we will have at least three field trips. I know, kind of strange, right? Field trips for P.E.? Hey! I'll take it.
Geometry
I am in the a class known to my peers as 'Super-TAG'. This means I am taking math two years above my grade level. As you can imagine, there is a relatively small group of people who take this class. In 6th grade, we were all in the same math class and became good friends. Last year, with the splitting of the schools, no one saw each other. This year, we are all back together again because they decided it didn't make sense to have two geometry classes. So, it's a little awkward, catching up on everything that went on in the past year, but almost everyone is very happy. It's kind of like a family reunion.
Language Arts
This curriculum was completely redone over the summer, apparently. Currently, we are reading Lord of the Flies, which every eighth grader has read for, probably, ever. Now, instead of having 'over-arcing themes', we have 'essential questions' and 'learning communities'.
Social Studies
My social studies teacher has a voice that drones like the buzzing of a fly, and lures you to sleep. He is a former cop who is easily distracted into telling 'cop stories' and having long discussions about things completely unrelated to civics. As for the actual curriculum, he shies away from anything even touching on controversy. I think I scare him. I brought up Sharia Law on the first day of class.
Engineering Technology/Woodworking/Nobody Even Knows
I signed up for Engineering Technonogy. Not Woodworking. But one of the engineering technology/woodworking was either fired or 'asked to leave' last year, so now we have one part-time teacher who is supposedly creating the curriculum for my combined class engineering technology/woodworking. (How those were thought of as the same thing, I have no clue.) But he isn't even teh one teaching us. We have a substitute who will be here for the first quarter only. Then, we will get another substitute. I really like the substitute but I spent the first two weeks learning how to measure an inch. However, maybe that was needed because it was truly impressive how many of the kids couldn't name the 1/2 inch marker and started measuring on the 1''.
German
Deutschklasse ist echt toll!!! German is really fun. This is my third combined class; the two 8th grade German classes have been condensed into one, so I get to see a lot of my friends. I also really like my teacher.
