The Summer List

We still have 8 days of school left, but today was an in-service day where we actually had quite a bit of time to work in our classrooms. I am so ready to pack it all in for the year. I'm sure the students, who will have had a 4-day weekend, will feel the same way next week. Who am I kidding? They are already mentally checked out.

This is the first summer in a while that I don't have plans. No school. No moving. No travel. And since we are a one-car family, I'm literally not even traveling to mall.

So here are some summer ideas that have been kicking around:
(I won't make this as messy as my last list.)

1. Read lots. This is a no brainer. I'd like to get to some of the books I haven't read here, and then whatever tickles my fancy.
2. Practice Spanish. I took a Spanish class for teachers last spring. I was no whiz, but I held my own for most of it. But then I took the second class and didn't survive too many weeks into it. I was the poor kid in the back who could never catch on. Developmentally, I wasn't ready to move on. (All the teacher jargon doesn't cover the fact that I was a big loser, does it?) I understand a lot, but am not comfortable speaking it.
3. Write more. Finish some things I've started--like my great romance story. (Man, still sounding like a loser.) Who wouldn't like to publish a book? I have a ton of stuff started in several genres...and I'm kind of embarrassed to say that a couple of years ago I started reading romances, and I rather like them. They are a quick fix when I need a book. (It's seriously like a drug addiction.) A couple of hours to read, and I'm left with happy thoughts in the end. Then one day, I thought, "I could so write this kind of stuff!" It's not like it's tough. The tough part is doing something fresh--those are the kind I know I like best.
4. Work on differentiated grammar plans. This is something my department mates are working on, too. It sounds like next year we have to do so much tracking of standards mastery that basically the students will have their own IEP's. I don't think literally, but damn near.
5. Do some year-long planning for next year, so I don't feel like I'm floundering like I did half the year this year. (I found out my new teaching assignment just a few weeks before school started last year--and that included knowing about yearbook.) English is English, thank goodness or I might have had another weird year. I do know that I'll have a tougher group, so I'll have to be an extra hard-ass. That won't make parents or students happy, I'm sure. Part of the reason I'm staying at my school, despite the fact that according to my contract, I can now move on to something I'd feel more comfortable with (like high school), is that I don't want to have a 4th year in a row that is different. I'm one of those who desires to settle down in a school and stay there until I retire. In my state, people don' t do that. The teacher transiency rate is very high.
6. Figure out how to make a much cooler blog template. (Uhm, this is also like learning a new language to me.) And find time to post to my other blogs, or stop being such dork and get rid of the other blogs.
7. Not spend money. Save money. Something like that--so we can buy a second car. I'd rather save for a house, but then I'd rather not be stranded at school until 6:00 p.m. every night--especially since I just found out that I will be teaching in the 0 hour next year, and that starts at 7:00 am. I haven't had to stay that late this year many times because my husband used to have a different job where he got off earlier, and I have a colleague in the neighborhood that I bums rides from. The one-car family thing worked out for nearly two years, but now that is all gone...
8. Figure out my master's business. My husband finishes his degree in September, so it's my turn to go back to school. How I wish I would have done this a long time ago! I hate to admit I don't have my master's, but for the first many years of my career, I didn't have the time or opportunity. You know like, how do I squeeze it in when I was in contact with students 12-13 hours a day? And I lived 150 miles from the nearest university. Now my extra duties are occasional, and I've already quite my night school job. (Oh, I was so bummed! I'm really going to miss those young punks.) It's something I need to do because I'm getting majorly screwed over on the pay scale. I might learn something, too. I better for the amount of $$ it is going to cost.
9. Exercise more. Or any. I won't have anything else to do. I'm actually looking forward to this. Have my gear. Have my DVD's. Ready to sweat it off. Now, everyone leave! You don't want to watch.
10. Decompress. Whatever it takes.