It's the Last Day!

Hey, my people.  I'm a little late in posting today because it's my last day of summer vacation which, of course, means that I slept terribly (head cold) and didn't even take a shower until 1 PM.  However, when I did take that shower and put on clean clothes, I went to the grocery store because I was starting to have to make inventive meals again.  (And not in the Food Network way.  In the what do I have that I am put some peanut butter on way.)

I always seem to greet the end of summer with such mixed emotions.  I am sad that another summer has come and gone and I have gotten to less than 20% of what was on my "List of Thing I Have To Do This Summer."  But, I'm excited about the new school year.  There's been a lot of changes in staff and in what I am teaching and how I am teaching it, and I'm just ready to get to it, you know?  I'm ready for the adventure that awaits.

My goals for the new school year are pretty simple.  And I know that you are dying to hear them...

• Spend more time thinking about the craft of teaching.  I actually resigned two the extra positions that were taking up much of my non-teaching school time for that purpose.  I really want to focus on what I am teaching, why I am teaching it, and why it's important for my students.  
• Be more organized.  Every year I say this, and every year I don't seem to make the kind of progress that I want.  I'm going to try harder this year and see what happens.
• Think before I speak.  Everyone is not looking for my input.  (Even if they should be.)  And I may suffer from that condition where I say things out of anger before I really think about how it sounds or what I mean.  I'd really like to work on that.  (Jesus would like me to work on it as well.)
• Stop stressing out about unimportant things.  Enough said.

Fellow teachers, what are your goals for the year?  I would love to hear them.  And if you aren't a teacher, maybe you could just share your goals for the second half of the year.