Being Overwhelmed

Being overwhelmed is not the greatest feeling. This year is my first year teaching. I would not change it for the world, but it can be very stressful, especially lately. I feel as if I wind up doing way more than I can handle. This semester is my first semester of graduate school. In all honesty, the combination of the two- first year teaching and first semester of grad school, have been pretty overwhelming for me. 
I have three sections of Social Studies to teach. I teach ELLs, 9th grade General, and 9th grade Honors. At one point, I had 45 students in one class- some of them were sitting on the floor! That issue has now been resolved, thankfully. 
I often have trouble deciding how many assessments, and what kind of assessments, to give my students. Sometimes I wonder, should I give them two quizzes? Should I give them a project and a test? Is this assessment differentiated enough? Has it been modified properly? Are my activities engaging enough? I feel I am constantly second guessing myself. 
I realize now, I probably should have only taken one graduate class this semester, instead of two. I feel as if I am falling behind for graduate school. This is a bit upsetting to me, because I am a very devoted, organized, and hardworking student. 
I have hopes that with the Thanksgiving break coming up, I will be able to catch up on work, become more organized, and make sure I am continuously being a good teacher and good student! 

Vocabulary Defined

Overwhelmed- A way of feeling in which a person feels they have to many things to do at one time and get emotional. 

Combination- Joining together of different things.

ELLs-  English Language Learners

Honors- More advanced level of learning/teaching. 

Resolved- Figured out, fixed.

Assessments- Ways of measuring growth and development.

Differentiated- Made differently for different kinds of students/learners.

Modified- Adapted to be clearer to students. 

Properly- Correctly.

Engaging- Keeping students interested. 

Devoted- Committed.

Continuously- Without interruptions or gaps. 

Vocabulary Exercises 

1. Think of, and list, 2 synonyms for the word "Continuously."

2. Create a sentence using the word "resolved."

3. Fill in the blank: "Her hat was not on                                       ,  so it flew off." 

Grammar Point

Singular and Plural: Singular, means one. Plural, means more than one. The distinction between singular and plural can typically be seen through adding "-s" or "-es" to the end of words. 

Grammar Exercises 

1. Underline 4 examples of plural items in the paragraph above.

2. Fill in the blank using the correct version of the word "shirt/shirts."

     -I have a lot of                                        .

     -My favorite                               is my Red Hot Chili Peppers one. 

3. Choose three words and write down the singular and plural versions of each word!