It's almost time to go back to school

The summer has cruised by for me. Seems like yesterday I just got out of school for the summer.

It's definitely been a restful yet productive summer. Since I didn't work this summer, I surprisingly kept pretty busy this summer with workshops, meetings with colleagues, a visit from my sister, and just hanging out with wonderful friends. It was a pleasant surprise to say the least since I'm so used to running around all the time. At first, I thought I would be bored. That SO didn't happen. I feel well rested and ready for a new school year. And, that is a good thing. :=)

The workshop at Harvard on Oil was great! So informative! The organizers brought in many lecturers and experts that were knowledgeable about the topic of Oil. During the morning sessions, we would have lectures. In the afternoon sessions, teachers would do workshops on how to implement the topic of oil and materials in the classroom. I also met some wonderful teachers from all over New England. The end of every day, I walked out feeling intellectually exhausted. Of course the best part was leaving with some wonderful resources to use in my classroom.

I had an inspiration during the workshop: I would like to propose to my transitional team that we do something around the topic of oil for 4th quarter this year. Our theme for 4th quarter is service. I thought that each content teacher could do the following: 1) History teacher - go over the role of Oil since 1900 in the world (History background), 2) English teacher - read current event articles about Oil and design informational posters about the pros and cons of oil usage in the United States and World to be hung up all over the building, 3) Science teacher - research the science about Oil, do a energy efficiency inventory of our high school, 4) Math teacher - research stats on oil usage, make charts and record the information they are learning. I also was thinking that the kids could have public service announcements read at the end of the day during announcements about various stats and trivia questions about the use of Oil. We could even have the students go to other schools in the district to educate the younger kids and even the community. The whole point of this project would be to educate students (both in our classes and around the district) and the community about energy efficiency and how we need to do something NOW to stop our addiction to Oil. Obviously, I'm just thinking and planning at the top of my head. My team was looking to do something for service learning and this topic might be a great way to tie all of our disciplines together and do a great thing for the environment at the same time.

Volleyball starts on Thursday so the life of M-Dawg gets turned upside down and crazy busy again. We will have double sessions (8:30-11:00 and 2:30-4:30) so in between practices, I will start getting my classroom ready. I've already been to Wal-Mart and Staples to load up on supplies. Going to be heading to my favorite teacher store on Monday to get some curriculum books and materials.

I don't go back until September 8th for a professional day and the students arrive on the 9th for their 1st full day of school (we end our school year the end of June). Some of you teacher folks are already in school. :=)

Wishing everyone a wonderful, productive, and drama free school year!! :=)