a day of thinking

[Beth Ehrlich Slater]

To my wonderful colleagues who might wander through this morning, it might look like I'm sitting on my rear and not doing anything. The truth is, I'm trying to rejuvenate myself for the last stretch until school is out and also take notes on ideas for next year. I'm starting graduate school again this summer (this time for a CAS in Digital Libraries) and know that even if I intend to plan this summer and come up with some snazzy ideas, I won't. I'm taking two classes this summer, then two in the Fall and again in the Spring until I'm through. We'll see where I go in my career after that, but until then, I really do want to make an impact with students here and collaborate more than I've been able to in the past.

The problem here is that teachers feel so much pressure from their pacing guides that they don't feel comfortable making them their own. I've spoken with teachers who say there are ways to still put yourself in your lesson plans and am fortunate enough to be working with one now. This English teacher and I both attended NCaect in March and came back with so many ideas and the motivation needed to do some truly awesome things with her students. Of course, both of us were yearbook advisors this year and now we're preparing for prom next week, so innovation sometimes tends to take a back seat... maybe that's why I need today to refuel. Until two minutes ago, I was lamenting not being able to put all of my ideas in one place, but then I saw that there's a blog on here and thought that this just might be the answer for me! We'll see... I started Midwood Innovators (http://mwdinnovators.blogspot.com) after the conference, but as Blogger is blocked here at school and the last thing I want to do sometimes when I go home is hop online, it's in a lull.

:)