Saturday, January 10, 2009

Happy 2009!

Greetings and Happy New Year to all!

Just a few updates:

*Made it safe and sound to IL. Had a lovely time with my family. Stayed at my sister's new townhouse -it's gorgeous! My sister and I threw my parents a surprise retirement party and a great time was had by all that attended. My Mom, sister, and I shopped on one day at the outlets. Even spent an evening with some friends from high school. Overall, it was a nice break and felt awesome to just get away and relax.

*Mom, Dad, and Mia the Yorkie left IL on Jan 3rd for FL. They are taking their time getting down there with a stop in Alabama at a campground on the gulf coast. They are enjoying the warmer weather so far.

*Went back to school on Monday. We have midterm exams starting on Monday. 2nd quarter is shorter because of MCAS. My colleagues and I didn't get through all the World curriculum that needed to get taught for the midterm. We've been pushing our head teacher to talk to the Asst. Superintendent about changing the World curriculum (we teach two years worth of curriculum in one year due to the change in state testing). And, the state doesn't even test on World History - US History only. My dept (and I) are pushing that we eliminate the first part of World History (the kids are being taught this in the middle school anyway) and start with the Enlightenment and work our way to the present day.

*I'm debating on the direction of where this blog needs to go. It's time for a change. I've usually mixed it up with both. I either will keep it personal or keep it strictly professional. I'm leaning towards keeping it professional and talking only about teaching stuff. I'm feeling a bit burnt out after ten years of teaching and feel that maybe if I focus on positive teaching styles and activities and educational stuff that maybe I can get those creative juices flowing again. :-)

*The other main reason why I'm leaning towards keeping this blog professional is that I would like to keep the personal MDawg personal. I have a lot of issues (as does everyone else out there) and I find that I'm way too negative about my personal life.

So, I wish everyone a happy 2009!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Glad to hear that your IL trip went well... with the weather it had to be interesting travelling...

Do what you feel is best about your "blog", sometimes it is better to have one specific purpose for something... then you can get some different ideas.

Take care & Keep on being who you are :-)

Robyn J said...

Glad to hear you had a nice time with the fam. Hope your parents' drive is safe.

Here's to a great 2009!