For most people, the measure of summer goes from Memorial Day to Labor Day. According to the calendar, it’s really from equinox to equinox, late June through late September. For teachers, it’s from the last day of school until we report back.I report back tomorrow so for me, this is the last hurrah of summer.It’s been an exceptionally busy summer, maybe a tad too busy. After all, I got a jump on things by starting my new Master’s Degree program on the final day of the last school year. I was up at Fairleigh Dickinson University for three days and then came home for all of two weeks.During that brief stretch, I took care of some freelance writing and even read a bit. But in a flash, I was not only starting my first two online courses, but flying off to Austin for my Journalism training. And while that was a delightful week, it was also packed between institute work and grad work.I was home for barely four days then off on an 11-day vacation, which was all sorts of fun, but was still getting grad work done.
Upon return, I was home four three solid days and was suddenly off to Shore Leave where a fine time was had by all.And this past week, my last full week at home, saw me out for two days at Professional Development.In order to ensure my grad work, freelance commitments, and school prep all got done, I saw down and made myself a master list of items and spaced them out from the 4th through today in order to ensure it was manageable and left me in good shape.I am delighted to report every item on the list has been ticked off.
Tomorrow morning I report to school and am genuinely looking forward to seeing my peers. Things will be different as I get acquainted with my new department chair and the new assistant principal overseeing English. Additionally, I’ve moved classrooms. As you can see from the accompanying picture, I am starting pretty much with a blank slate.Given that I have Journalism and Creative Writing, I successfully lobbied to have a computer-equipped classroom. I was delighted my request was honored to the point where new furniture and computers were ordered but some bureaucratic snafu means they won’t arrive until sometime next month. I’m not entirely sure what I will have at my disposal tomorrow and when the kids return on the 24th but we’ll make it work.Speaking of making things work, as you can tell, I’ve finally refreshed the website. The changes went live yesterday and my new web designer/mistress Kate Cooke and I will be making incremental refinements over the next few weeks. Feedback and comments are certainly appreciated.