Lesson Planning

It is really difficult to plan lessons when you have no idea what your students already know. Even harder when you don't know when your math books are going to show up. Even harder when you're just not sure how well your students will cooperate with you and with each other. What do I need to do to prepare them for everything that I want them to be able to do? I'm trying not to be overly ambitious without treating the kids like they're dumb. How much math can I do in the first week? And science?--this is an animal I wasn't prepared to grapple with.

How can I plan for an objective when I don't even know where to look for it?

I'm neck deep in books, curricula, lesson plans, procedures, and oh so many expectations. Still have to call all my students' parents tomorrow and I'm not sure when that is going to happen. It is daunting since I was unable to catch the other 6th teacher to split the work before she left school on Friday so I get to call all 39 of them. I don't want to make phone calls! I want to go to Satchmo Fest, drink my share of beer, eat my share of tasty food, lounge about in the summer sun, and listen to way too much good music for FREE. Plus, my father is buying dinner. I'm a big fan of free dinner. Especially after I just spent about $200 on teacher-type supplies.

I'm still really excited about the school year, despite my current state of deer-in-headlights and exhaustion. It's just very overwhelming and I really need another week to prepare. And sleep.