whoa...return from the living dead of this blog. just feels weird blogging about school on my other one....that's why this is "not about our baby"...

sooooo...after venting a lot of frustrations about the whole co-teaching situation, it was actually kind of good to verbalize it to someone who mattered, ie, the co-teacher i work with. i refrained from using "aunte" in any of the dialogue, but i think i was honest enough without being overly brutal. however, my gauge of brutal might not be the same as hers, so we'll see. she said she can take it and that she won't be offended, so i tried to be honest. of course, that doesn't mean i told her i don't see her as my equal in english or that i don't think she'll ever be outstanding...that would just not be nice, as "true" as i think it is.

so what points did i make (or think i made)?
*i should NOT be taking attendance AND stamping AND checking out books to the kids in the beginning of class...
*she should be circulating the classroom if i am lecturing/giving kids notes to take, especially because we have students who NEED help
*i am the baseline/upward differentiator...she is the downward differentiator...
*she needs to provide accommodations/modifications for assignments if she feels that would work better with some students
*i have a very difficult time giving up control in my classroom...like letting her teach...because i know what i want, how i want it, the way i want it said, when i want to stop, what will and will not distract the kids, etc...

points she made...which I need to take into consideration
*she needs prior notice for what's going to happen in class so that she can prepare...
*she wants the kids to see her as a teacher too
*she is able and willing to create lessons/units/assignments/etc.
*she wants to be able to "jump in" during instruction to add her two cents
*she is learning a lot from being in class

our goals
*try different teaching techniques, like breaking the class into two groups and teaching them separately
*stick to collaborating every period 6 on Fridays


my reservations:
*is this really going to make a difference?
*do i REALLY "believe in her" like i'm supposed to (core beliefs?)

we'll see how it goes...i gotta give a little bit more, but i still am not willing to lower my expectations...