Learning Inside Out

So, brief background for readers outside my classroom: I'm a first year teacher. I teach elective courses and my school's Extended Learning Program. I teach in Alaska. Yes, it's cold. This Fall has been a whirlwind, one which no amount of student teaching really could have prepared me for. Something about suddenly having full responsibility for everything happening in the classroom is simultaneously freeing and overbearing. This is doubly true when teaching electives, where there isn't as much Standards-Based goodness for me to look towards when I feel out of my depth. A lot of the last few months has been me figuring out what I ideas needed to teach, brainstorming the best way to give students experience with the topics, and then desperately hoping no fires burst out in the process. So far we've had a good run. There were only two fires this semester. I have 150 middle-schoolers. This is an accurate depiction of my classroom some days. That said, my class