MIA

I'm going to take a moment to come up for air and say hello!

Al is doing great. He is working as usual. They are getting ready to do their annual St. Jude's promotion, so we'll be letting you all know what day you need to go out to Chili's to support a great cause! If you want to know a little about the program and the success last year, visit:

http://www.chilis.com/ourcommitment/default.asp

I'm quickly relearning what real life feels like. I have 2 classes that I've never taught before, so that takes a lot of planning. One of them, READ 180 is largely tracked on a computer program that I am slowly learning to navigate. The other teacher left a job at the district to come back to teaching, and her district job was centered around this program and literacy, so I was excited to have her as a go-to. However, she is on maternity leave for the next couple of months...

Then there is the English Department fun that started when one of our teachers went to another school about three weeks before the start of the year. The administrators and department head interviewed some people, but no one really sparked their interest, so now I'm one of a few teachers on productivity. For those of you unfamiliar with that, we have eight periods--4 on A days and 4 on B days, so students are in my class every other day. On regular salary, I teach 3 classes each day with one prep period. Now, on A days, I don't have a prep, but I teach 4 Junior English classes. The happy part is that I make extra money. Unfortunately, I am very, very, busy, because not only do I have more students and therefore work to grade, I have half the time at school to complete it. I find myself working lunches and after school.

And I've made a commitment to be going to the gym, so that adds to the busy-ness of life. I feel like I'm always on the run!

But I guess it keeps things interesting...