4 days...

So here are the top 10 reasons why this summer rocked:

1. Our Algebra I girls, and guy. They are amazing. I have never seen a group of students want to learn so much. They fight to answer questions, work out problems on the board. They make comments like “This is so easy now” and “My notebook is gonna look like this next year.” They are so proud (and surprised) to make the good grades they’re making. We wanna pack them up and take them with us.
2. Our 1^st year’s are awesome. They are so ready and willing to learn. I have enjoyed watching them learn, become more confident, and become better teachers in general. They just soak up everything we tell them, but they are finding their own teaching personalities. I’ve learned from them, noticing things they do that I don’t. Their enthusiasm for teaching is refreshing.
3. Watching 2^nd year’s. Again, this has to do with improving myself. I am actually really looking forward to the fall…I can’t wait to be a better teacher. I teach the way I was taught…and for our kids that’s not always enough. I need to teach much more depth than breadth, and try to integrate more across the curriculum, especially when it comes naturally and last year I just didn’t take (I didn’t really have it any way) the time to make connections.
4. Classroom management revision…although I wouldn’t use the exact word “rock,” but it did start discussion within our house and with other 1^st and 2^nd years about what works, what problems we had, and how we’ll improve. Seeing one teacher in our presentation group made me realize (again) that my rules, procedures, and all that jazz need to be what I need them to be, for me, not for Ben or for my principal or for anyone (within certain parameters, of course). I lost sight of that somehow, wanting to become a teacher that I never will be.
5. I got to live in a house full of 7 other amazing people. I must admit I had my worries before June, but we couldn’t have had a better group of people to cook, make fun of Aaron’s shaving and ironing, sit in our camping-chair-living-room, post!, gossip, and learn with. I’ve gotten to know everyone in ways that I hadn’t had the chance to, and now I feel like we’ll actually make the effort to try to visit and keep in touch with one another.
6. Weekend with the 2^nd years. I fell in love with Jackson all over again, and the genuine appreciation from our guests was overwhelming and unforgettable.
7. Ultimate.
8. All the good food: salads in the casserole dish, CA pizzas, Mexican night, Joe’s banquet of a meal, Cuban beans, banana bread, and espresso every morning
9. Conversations on the bus. Otherwise, I would never have talked or even seen many people.
10. Running and swimming again.