The Why Behind What I Teach: Prepping to Leave My Class For Maternity Leave!

Man. Thinking of leaving your classroom full of kiddos is not easy at ALL. Today is September 1. My daughter is scheduled to come in the world on the 30th. If she comes early, I could potentially be only a few weeks away from leaving! I need to get ready to hand my class off to our building sub like, now. I made the mistake of making a list of what I need to do in order to feel like I've left her in a good place before I leave and it stresses me out! The sad part is, I've been semi-preparing to do this since the first week of school but this whole September 1st thing snuck up on me!

disclaimer: {The person taking over my room is very bright and more than able to pick up the pieces and keep it moving without my doing ALL of this.  This is more for MY comfort than anything else. I want to leave feeling like I've done everything I can to set my kids up for success!}

*complete running records and leave notes for small group instruction to move the kids along (cueing system strategies)

*take their fast draft assessment writing pieces and finish labeling them along the TCWRP writing continuum and grouping them in order to figure out next steps for writing.

*start paper work for existing and new students that I feel will need to start the CORE team remediation process.

*schedule parent teacher conferences (which is always super fun) oh and they fall just a few days before I'm due.

*leave detailed notes and assessments for all students in case the sub has to do the conferences for me (oh my word).

*various school assignments that we are asked to do (drill down and put specific interventions in place for struggling kiddos that we identify, for example)

*and the most important one, sitting down and showing my sub how I plan and decide what to teach in my room. I've spent a lot of time really trying to know WHY I teach what I teach and I'm no where near where I want to be but she told me she wants to keep going with what I'm currently doing, so it seems important for me to share this with her.

I decided to type up a document to leave with my sub that spells out why I teach certain things and what resources I refer to constantly to make it happen. It's at the bottom of this document.

I'm hoping it is helpful to her...it makes me feel better, anyway. SO I'm wondering if I should add anything. Do any of you teach these things for specific reasons? Would you find this helpful? Let me know!

Click for the full document

*not responisble for spelling and grammar errors while entertaining "pregnancy brain." https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B_UOhX0NlYYUa09lUDJDUURYQUk