Today I
visited my room for about an hour. Glancing around I tried to ensure that I
was, for the most part, ready to begin. Tomorrow we’ll have meetings all day
and then the fun begins! Tuesday the students will come for ½ of the day and then Wednesday
we’ll begin for good.
I love
this time of year. To me fall is the start of everything new. New classes, new
students, time to start fresh. I know most of the world looks upon January as
the New Year, but August has always been for me. And just as I do in January, I
make resolutions for my year.
My main
resolution this school year is to put things in perspective. To not over devote
myself to school but live a balanced life. This is my first year in three years
that I won’t be attending grad school two or three nights a week. That should
help. But after reading Franki’s blog HERE, I am typing up what I will feel is
a balanced life. I plan on reflection on this list each week and see if I can say,
“Yes” to the following questions. If I can look back around NCTE in November
and see that I’ve done the following, I think I’ll be feeling pretty good.
Did I
exercise five times that week? (Goal – three runs, two “other” workouts)
Did I get
a good amount of sleep five nights of the week?
Did I
carve out time to do what Luke and Liam wanted to do?
Did I try
to go out with Chris once every other week?
Did I
find time to read and write each day?
Did I make cooking a great dinner a priority five nights of the week?
Did I
feel good about my role in the classroom that week?
I can
easily devote myself to teaching and the rest of my life will take a backseat,
especially in the fall. I’ve worked out zero days this past week, a first since
January. I have spent hours in my classroom and very few at home reading, writing,
hanging out with my children. I am hoping that this week I can turn it around.
My room feels good, my plans are written, I’m ready to teach and return to a
schedule.
