Well the paperwork is in, and my staff badge has been made. Today I sat down with my new boss and discussed the plans and expectations for the ensuing school year. The discussion was not as formal because I spent the past semester working with her during my student teaching tenure. Within this conversation I learned that the format for the 6th grade would be changing. My cooperating teacher and I will be each teaching 2 subjects, and I opted for Language Arts & Social Studies. This new format will cause the 6th graders to get used to the changing of classes that comes with Jr. High. I welcome this new process because this means less lesson planning for me. Only having to focus on 2 subjects rather than all the subjects allows me to ensure all required content is covered. Of course I will be implementing a cross-curriculum method, incorporating the Math and Science my partner teacher will be focusing on will help create a well rounded learning environment. I left my meeting with the Principal with the curriculum created by the district. With this arsenal in my hands I am not beginning to start curriculum map. It will be nice to come with an idea already in line when I finally sit down and plan with my new 6th grade teaching partner.
After much research on the internet for curriculum map templates, I decided to create my own. I downloaded an adorable universal border and using a table started the blueprint to begin planning my first year of teaching. Below are the forms I created to begin this process. Since I am only focusing on Language Arts and Social Studies I only created 4 templates - one each for Reading, Writing, Speaking/Listening & Language, and Social Studies. Using this will help me get the year in line so I am not trying to scramble to make sure I cover all the required content to ensure my students are successful and ready for 7th grade.
