Laura Gonzalez's Page

Thanks for responding.  I know that it's 7th grade with a total student load of 95-100.  I believe that will be 5 sections with additional duties in AIS.  There is talk of pulling an "honors" group of students (something we already do in ELA 9-12) beginning next year.  That makes me happy for several reasons.  I've always had 4-6 preps, having only 1 sounds boring.  It also tells me that teachers are still striving to look forward and make the best of what we've got left to work with.  I've really enjoyed the challenge of Honors 11 for the last several years and feel as though there are some strategies from that which will apply to 7th graders, as well.  Unfortunately, the cuts my district is facing are more like amputations.  That means the people who would normally support a transition like this are suffering and angry.  I've moved past that (I've known for about a month) and really want to get to work on putting things together.

Laura, my name is Leon Avrech, San Jose CA. I am a retired middle school teacher, vice principal, principal, mentor teacher. I recently had a book published that I hope you will tell other teachers. I have a passion for middle school and helping teachers succeed. The name of the book is, "Think You Can Teach? A Survival Guide For New Middle School Teachers". The book is inexpensive and covers from the first day on campus to the end of year evaluation. Thank you, Leon Avrech legendleon@att.net

Yes definetely! Let's find a common time and a plan to use for our classes to work together and skype. I teach reading through social studies content to middle-schoolers.

Hi Laura,

With your strong interest in Technology, I recommend you take a look at Wiziq's virtual classroom and authorstream's power point presentation platform. Both are web based platforms, have a bunch of features and free basic service.

Here’s a Public Class on Technology Integration you might be interested in.