"There's 104 days of summer vacation..."

The first full day of summer vacation...

I don't know about most of you, but I'm a creature of habit. I like a routine. I need a plan. So when school ends and summer vacation begins, no matter how eagerly I have anticipated it, I usually end up feeling a little lost for the first week or so.

It's a phenomenon that never ceases to amaze me.

One of the things I've challenged myself to do this summer is to try to write a little every day. On the surface it seems like no big deal, but as I sit here, clicking away at the keyboard, there's a furry, little face looking up at me and making a pitiful, whining noise in her throat. I'm "babysitting" my daughter's Yorkie, and evidently she is having separation anxieties of her own. Every time I sit down, she wants me to put her in her lap and reassure her that her Mommy will indeed come back and life as she knows it will return to normal. Meanwhile my hound is lying on my foot, occasionally looking up at me with a "Will you do something about that?" look on her face. Her routine has been upset as well.

I'm really not sure where this new habit will take me. I'm hoping it will put some polish on my writing skills, maybe encourage me to be more purposeful in my creative writing. It's largely self-indulgent, but hey, that's one of the perks of being a teacher, right? Summers off?

(I'm chuckling to myself as I write that  phrase because to my right is a giant pile of material that has to miraculously transform itself into lesson plans for a new class and another pile of the coffee table that needs revision while I enjoy my summer off.)

So, like Phineas and Ferb, I'm going to begin today looking for ways to spend my summer vacation. While it unlikely that my results will be as exciting as theirs, I'm hoping to eventually do more than wander from room to room, wondering what I should do next.

That's a wrap...

Two full days, hand out some report cards and call it done.

Where did the year go?

I noticed that the last time I posted, I was trying to get my ducks in a row to implement the CCSS.

That was a crash and burn.

I tried something new, and while it looked terrific on paper, the execution was something else again. Luckily, my students were gracious and second semester was much smoother. We still worked toward mastery of the standards, but in a format that was a little more familiar.

Change is never easy, but I've learned that sometimes we can make it easier on all concerned if we ease into it.

One of the changes I want to make this summer is a commitment to more disciplined writing. There's that novel that needs finishing and this blog that could use some attention. And I built a website that ALSO has a blog that's directed toward my students. Oh! And that in depth study of I John I want to do and journal.

So much for easing into things, but that's OK, it's just not my style anyway.