Every time I think that I should write in my journal, or have something meaningful to say, I'm either too tired to give it its due or not at the computer. So I'm finally just going to put at least something down.

Summer has come to an end, well, at least the not working part of it. It was nice to have a break and to be able to spend more time with LB and more time on other things.

I was dreading going back, but the principal at schol has made things less than miserable. He started the week on a positive note and kept it that way. He is sensitive to teachers needs and concerns and really makes an effort to respect our time and the job that we do.

We were supposed to have 5 pre-school days, one to work in our rooms and the other 4 were supposed to be full of professional development activities. The LAST thing any teacher wants to do is hear about this that or the other thing, when they really need to be prepping their rooms for the start of school. Our 4 days were a mix of meetings and time to work in our rooms, or, in professional development terms, classroom environment practicum. And the stuff that we did do, was either leagally mandated, or actually mostly useful. Admittedly, I did not need the review about how to log into a computer and how to get on district e-mail servers etc... But knowing some of my colleagues, scheduling an hour to do that was probably not enough.

One of the things that I'm planning to do this year which is new, is to teach my students how to approach their textbook. I NEVER really learned how to read a science or math text or about pre reading or anything. I was clearly able to get by without it, but I only wonder how much better I could have done with these tools that we now have. Yeah, I also never learned how to study well, but that is another whole journal entry!! But anyway, a couple of teachers did a presentation on reading in classes, and while much of what they said didn't really apply to science, it did get the gears working and got me thinking about how to work it for my students. I then met with one of the teachers and we looked specifically at my textbooks and how to work this with my students. I think it'll work well, and will free up some of my time. I won't have to explain basic concepts, but just reinforce them, leaving me more time for the more difficult pieces. We'll see how it actually works, but I'm looking forward to giving it a try, and I know there are teachers out there who will bend over backwards to help me make it work. YAY!!

The kids descend on Tuesday, and I'm looking forward to a new batch, but also dreading it somewhat. I love the kids and teaching them, but I sometimes hate all the work that comes along with it. I also really want to be an exciting, engaging, and interesting teacher, but that's tough for me right now. I'll have to work on it. I'm guessing an unlimited budget would help that problem a lot, I could to more demos and better labs which would be great for the students.

Well, I think that's it for now, bedtime has rolled around and past, hopefully LB will sleep in again tomorrow like he did today. BTW, if you've gotten this far, thanks for reading!!