Where did the time go?

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” - Albert Einstein
Okay, okay, okay, okay. It has been at least three weeks since the last blog post. While I can say that it has been a busy three weeks, I also have to say that I have been fairly lazy when it comes to the blog posts. There was time, I just didn't feel like it. So sorry! 
So, these past couple of weeks I've been working to get myself ready for the approaching school year and basically struggling to get my anxiety under control. Honestly, anxiety is probably my number one reason for not posting. On the days I was actually doing the things that were necessary I was too focused to take a time out. On the days when I was catering to my anxiety and just wandering around panicking... well, I was too busy doing that to post. So, yeah, anxiety sucks but I think I have finally managed to kick myself into gear and become a functional adult again. Whoot! 
So, I guess the most exciting thing to talk about is CSUN week with the 6th graders, which is what I have been busy with this past week. CSUN week is a middle school orientation for the 6th graders. We go to CSUN (California State University Northridge) and introduce them to life as a middle school student (CCMS's culture, procedures, and norms) and, because one of the PUC commitments is preparing every student for college, how what they learn in middle school translates to college preparedness. We also do some diagnostic testing as well so we can see which students are struggling in ELA and Math and which are doing well. Honestly, it's just a good way to get students who might not have even though about college, thinking about it and what they need to be doing to get there. While a weeklong field trip with 120 students is excessively challenging, I believe the results were worth it. 
I'd like to explain a little about CCMS's school culture, since I will be spending God knows how long working for the school. I'm quite impressed with how they do things, even if sometimes it seems a tad regimental and puts a lot of work on the teachers. 
Cohorts CCMS has a pretty small population. There are only 120 6th graders total. Since these are such small numbers there is only one teacher per subject area for any given grade. As the 6th grade ELA teacher, this means I see every single sixth grader in the school (usually every day). I'm pretty excited about this. I'll talk more about why in a little bit. Anyway, the 120 students are broken up into four different cohorts. They stay with these cohorts for all of their classes. So, basically they become very comfortable with about thirty other students in the school. These cohorts are labeled as colleges. So, there's these cohorts for 6th grade: Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, and Yale. Okay, can I just say, how cute is that? Seriously, I think it's awesome. My little Harvard students. 
Anyway, the only class they take where they do not stay within their cohorts is for homeroom, which is basically advisory. We use the advisory period to work on Math and ELA skills that the students are struggling with. So, here is one thing I'm still not sure that I like: the cohorts are grouped homogeneously. I mean, I think this could be useful, but for the most part I am against homogeneous group. Still, the groups are large enough, I don't think the students would know. It also has the advantage of making sure we are scaffolding quite a bit more than necessary for some of the other students for our lower performing students as well as letting some of our quicker learners explore a bit more. I just wish the opportunities were there for everyone. 
The 6th Grade Team Since each content teacher teaches the entire grade it means there is a lot of room for collaboration. Our department meetings go by grade, rather than content. While there are times when we do meet with our content, the 6th grade team meets everyday. We discuss our lessons, how we can tie things together, but mostly we talk about the students. Which students are struggling and how we can remediate as a team and have consistency. Also, which students are doing well and how we can continue to support them. While I think this is absolutely brilliant, it does put a lot of pressure on me, especially since I'm fairly introverted and would rather just sit and listen in meetings. This can't happen and shouldn't happen, but it means I have to be vocal. I'm sure it will get easier in time, especially once I start really thinking about my students and the best way to help them.
Anyway, I'm sure there's a ton more to talk about but at the moment I'm drawing a blank. I'm pretty excited for the upcoming school year but I am also terrified. Wish me luck!
- Brandy