Back to School!

School starts on Tuesday.  I've already been in faculty meetings for two weeks.  We built a tower out of spaghetti and tape, we played with legos, and we got treated to two rounds of drinks (I had margaritas of course) after work last Friday.  So far so good.   Not to mention the long engaged discussions about curriculum and motivation and how to be innovative teachers -- these faculty meetings are not messing around!

The transition from stay-at-home mamma back to working mamma is difficult but relieving -- I do end up feeling like I need to "do" something by the end of the summer, as though raising a son is doing nothing.  I know it is doing something, but my brain doesn't get challenged in quite the same way.  My patience, yes, my creativity, yes, but not my analytical skills and strategizing.  It is almost a physical sensation of joy when I do come home and see Hudson, usually already in his high chair having dinner, and he always throws me a big smile and a shout of some kind.  Hudson is starting a session of baby gymnastics at The Little Gym with Ben, and it appears to be starting off well -- shy at first, but able to join in by the end of the class.  I get a reportback at dinner each night (in between all the noise Hudson makes) about what happened during the day.  I can't help but feel that I missed out on so much fun, but I am more motivated now to make the most of the weekends - we went to Camano Island for camping last weekend, for example. Maybe, just maybe we'll catch the state fair this weekend...
The stress of teaching at a new school has been making me fidgety and a little sleepless, but not overwhelmed, thankfully.  As the Spanish department (though here we call them disciplines, since there is no department head), we've been talking about several interesting things during our meeitngs - how to grade participation, and how important it is in the grade, and also how to encourage kids to do summer immersion and travel.  Last year I finally took particpation out of my grading system as a category, but I've agreed to put it back in this year to be consistent with my current colleagues.  It's always been difficult for me to know exactly what constitutes a participation grade, and whether it really has any bearing on the student's ability to use and understand Spanish.  However, I do understand that especially with kids younger than juniors and seniors, a lot of what they are learning in the classroom is how to behave and function in an academic environment.  I decided to call it 'classroom citizenship', copying a colleague, and simply force myself to make a system and be organized about it.  And as for summer travel, I'm enjoying looking around the Internet for summer programs for youth, and I'll give a report back here when I compile some good info. 

I am going to spend the next two hours making lesson plans and getting something concrete to bring into the classroom after the first couple days of syllabus dissection and introductions.  Wish me luck.