View from Nucla Junior/Senior High School

My new school sits on a hill above the town of Nucla, Colorado. Population: about 1300. The school has around 150 students in grades 7-12. I teach the Junior High Writing Lab, 8th grade language arts, speech, American literature, and an English Composition class for Mesa State College. This is a lot of preps for a new teacher! I'll be spending my weekend writing syllabuses and course outlines for the comp and speech courses, then write lesson plans for next week. I'm also working on a global plan for the 8th graders. Without question, I have my work cut out for me!

One of my early challenges has been technology. The district has an expert technologist; however, he is being recalled into active military duty in two weeks. Ken assures us that he will be able to solve problems via email and phone from his new post in Virginia, but I imagine the Navy will keep him pretty busy. My classroom computer is finally working, but learning our antiquated grading system will be yet another challenge. Onward!