having fun and getting it done

hmmm, my heading here is more aspiration than reality.

I did practically no work this weekend. Why have all of my weekends felt that way. I write these Thursday night, Friday night posts and say, "Regroup over the weekend." And do I? I mean, my sanity comes back coz I have some good times with people I like that are over the age of 6, that's true. And I usually have spend ample time with the excercise I like. So, yes, I feel sane right now at 11pm on Sunday night. But, do I have a weeks worth of lessons ready to go?

No. No. No.

I remember talking with my assistant(here to know as A.T.) at the beginning of the year, and telling A.T. about my lesson planning formats and my theme ideas, and what I heard back was that last year that stuff didn't exist. They winged it everyday more or less, is what I gather. Or, just planned for each day without specific weekly goals. I couldn't really read whether A.T. thought this was effective or not, but A.T. did sound excited that I wanted to push thematic planning.

So, now that I'm into it. It seems like my idea of a theme is too much for the time of the program. Back to the "Keep It Simple, Stupid" concept (maybe "KIS, Silly" is kinder). Themes are great, chica, but it's gotta be REAL basic. As in, Pets, Buildings, Vehicles, Panda Bears. Not ecosytems and cities and things that go and endangered animals. Too much, for me AND them. I think we can embrace a sort of project-based focus, as long as we really hit on small themes in deep and varied ways.

So what would this look like for the coming week? I didn't get to the library this weekend. So, should I go tomorrow and dig up as much as I can. Should I change our format starting tomorrow? Shorten meetings and move them to later in the day? It's tricky coz I don't have to turn in my lesson plans to anyone at this job, so it's really all for me. Can I really take it day-by-day all week? I've been writing lessons on Sundays and totallly changing them by Wednesdays, so...in some senses, why bother...

I will probly get up plenty early tomorrow and leave time to keep thinking, but right now, I think I am handling things. I think having a positive attitude and relaxed disposition is really so much more important than trying to get every detail right. Where I feel I'm struggling, though, is really the bag of tricks aspect. Like during circle, I want more attention getters and cooler songs that I actually know the words to...How can a person forget the words to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star... I swear, I am an embarassment to the profession when it comes to forgetting song lyrics. <> right? How do I forget that!

Also, for work time, I need to know more materials. But, this could be remedied by reviewing albums from other teachers at school. And the circle time thing could be remedied by a trip to the bookstore to get "transition tips and tricks" kinds of books.

Maybe instead of lesson planning, I should start "Directress' Bag of Tricks Book" and have sections for songs, rhymes, materials, transition stuff, outdoor games. Hmmm....stream of consciousness has resulted in a good idea.

Woo! Yeah, and that's something I could save for future years! YeahYeahYeah!

But meanwhile, and for tomorrow. I gotta put together the original exercise I've had in mind and get done some housekeeping kinds of paper work. Also, an art activity for Tuesday. Brainstorm for ingedients/materials for this weeks projects. Also, if I'm gonna go project based, I think I want to solicit ideas from the kids about what we should study. And, still, behaviors fine in the scheme of things, but I can continue to lay down the law in more effective and fair ways. I have that ability. :)