School's Out
Yesterday was the last day of school for the 2008-2009 school year. Now we get a week off before starting the summer school program. I'm not quite finished with my checkout forms, but all I need is my final room and book inventory stuff. I also want to give my room a good defragging, since I had piles of old papers from not just this year, but the previous year as well. I got about halfway through yesterday, and I'll finish up this morning so I'm ready for next year.
I'm not exactly sure what all I'll be doing this summer. I will have a week-long meeting with a state committee that is reviewing the state standards for English Language Learners, and I'm pretty excited about that. I've been grumbling about the standards since they came out, but I've grumbled even more about the whole "jump-through-the-hoops" the state is requiring of these children. I don't think we'll be addressing the latter, at least not officially, but anything, however small, that I can do to help our students succeed is okay with me.
After my week on the committee, I will be working with incoming freshmen to introduce them to what high school is like. Another teacher, Tammy, will be team-teaching the one-week course with me. I was supposed to work with her for two weeks, but this committee thing came up and as it is a great privilege for someone from my remote district to be invited on it I chose to miss the first week. Sorry again, Tammy!
Then I'll have a few weeks that I can use to visit family and friends before heading off for San Diego the first week of July. I need to call/write/email/contact my cousins there and see if I can drop by for part of the time to visit. I'll be a delegate at the Regional Assembly for the NEA (teacher's union), and it is my first time to go to a national type meeting. I'm totally excited, even though sometimes I take a stand diametrically opposed to the majority of my union on some of the issues that come up.
After the RA, I get to have a couple more weeks of vacation time before we have to report back to work. We start back at work the last week of July. In today's economy, I'm just glad that I was given a contract and can continue to work!
I'm not exactly sure what all I'll be doing this summer. I will have a week-long meeting with a state committee that is reviewing the state standards for English Language Learners, and I'm pretty excited about that. I've been grumbling about the standards since they came out, but I've grumbled even more about the whole "jump-through-the-hoops" the state is requiring of these children. I don't think we'll be addressing the latter, at least not officially, but anything, however small, that I can do to help our students succeed is okay with me.
After my week on the committee, I will be working with incoming freshmen to introduce them to what high school is like. Another teacher, Tammy, will be team-teaching the one-week course with me. I was supposed to work with her for two weeks, but this committee thing came up and as it is a great privilege for someone from my remote district to be invited on it I chose to miss the first week. Sorry again, Tammy!
Then I'll have a few weeks that I can use to visit family and friends before heading off for San Diego the first week of July. I need to call/write/email/contact my cousins there and see if I can drop by for part of the time to visit. I'll be a delegate at the Regional Assembly for the NEA (teacher's union), and it is my first time to go to a national type meeting. I'm totally excited, even though sometimes I take a stand diametrically opposed to the majority of my union on some of the issues that come up.
After the RA, I get to have a couple more weeks of vacation time before we have to report back to work. We start back at work the last week of July. In today's economy, I'm just glad that I was given a contract and can continue to work!