ALMOST the end of the school year - can I do it?

Yes. MDawg is still in school. We are in school until June 23rd (we had one snow day to make up). Ahhhh . . . the joy of living in New England and starting school after Labor Day. :=)

This school year has been one of the most exhausting and overwhelming to date. With all the Freshman House drama, transition program drama, and just plain every day kind of drama, I think everyone is ready for the year to end. I don't like wishing my life away but this school year really truly just needs to be officially O-V-E-R!

It probably doesn't help that it's been VERY hot and humid here. I have a classroom on the 3rd floor of our building (we call it the Penthouse) and it's an inside classroom (no windows) so there is supposed to be AC in the inside classrooms. The AC is broken so the classrooms have been reaching temps of 86-90 degrees. Even with my 2 fans strategically placed in room - it's not helping cool off the classroom. Even when it cools off outside the building, the heat stays trapped inside the building until at least October. Makes me feel real grateful after the school district spend millions and millions of dollars in a 3 year renovation project of the school and the AC doesn't work (the AC units are only two years old). Under warranty?????? Who knows since everything was done so cheap. Ugh. :-(

The class of 2010 is officially gone. Their first year was my first year at the high school. I was their class advisor freshman and sophomore years. I was invited to chaperon their Prom. They wanted their pictures taken with me. They invited me to all their Senior week activities: Six Flags (the roller coasters and I bonded), Improv Comedy Night, and the Senior Picnic. Graduation was on Friday. Again, a lot of pictures taken. There were a lot of tears and hugs and best wishes for the future. I will miss them but they are moving on to bigger and better things in the world. :=)

The big summer plans are quite simple: 1) Rest and relax, 2) do a lot of walking and exercising 3) get ready to teach AP European History in September (I have AP training in Vermont for a week), 4) Jury duty, and 5) Go to IL to visit family and friends.

I really need to recharge my creative battery this summer regarding my teaching. I think teaching in that Transition Program really messed me up creatively and professionally. The Program will not exist next school year (the administration FINALLY heard our cries of "it's not working") but these at-risk students will be mixed in again within the regular school population. I think if the administration provided our team with support and proper training to begin with it might have worked. But they didn't see the "bigger" picture with these kids and what the teachers had to work with in terms of social and behavior skills. No one else in the Freshman House wants (actually they all REFUSED) to teach those kids.

I'm looking forward to the AP training in July. I've heard wonderful things about the training but also it's a lot of work too. I've had to come up with a summer assignment for students that signed up for my course (which is hard to do since I've never taught the course or had the training yet) but I went online to see what other AP Euro teachers give their students for summer work and went by their requirements. But the way, I have enough students that signed up for TWO sections of AP Euro History! Not bad considering it's an elective course for 12th graders. Right now it looks like my schedule for next school year will consist of 3 sections of 9th grade World History and two sections of AP Euro History.

And, I'm looking forward to going to IL to see my family and friends. My parents are back in IL for the summer. They are staying at a campground near my sister. I haven't seen my family since Christmas out in Arizona. And, it's always great to see friends too. Thank goodness for email and Facebook! Both allow me to keep in touch with everyone. :=)

Volleyball season will start up the end of August and my life will go back to craziness once again.

For now, I just want to breath. Work on me physically and spiritually. And just smile. :=)