Sunday, August 19, 2012

Gearing Up



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.