September

I've recently decided that September may be my least favorite month of the year. The month has a few positives, such as cooler temperatures (at least some years anyway), fall is one of my favorite seasons and it begins this month, and my Dad's birthday is this month (I'm blessed that he is still here as he'll be 81 next Monday). But then it's also the anniversary of Kevin's birth, and as Stefanie (who has never even known him) says, "We miss him a lot." Then last September my mom died after a 5 year illness with agnogenic myloid metaplasia, a very rare blood disorder. So my mood and attitude have been all over the place the past two weeks, and I fear I won't recover until the magical month of October, maybe my favorite month of the year.

Writing and More Writing

I am excited and overwhelmed simultaneously by how well most of my students are bloggins. Right now I have 292 blogs to read and that is just so far in September. But beyond the sheer numbers of entries is the pleasure I'm getting from reading. I may know this group of students better than I have any class in my 29 years of teaching. They are candid and even enthused as they pick their own topics and write. It's refreshing to have students groan and moan when blogging time is over. I love it when learning is FUN!

Family

What does family mean to me? I have two sisters, one is three years younger than me and the other is six years younger. Yeah, I'm the oldest. For most of our growing up years, I was the typcial bossy older sister. In fact Pam (sister 1) liked to refer to me as Marcia (like the Brady Bunch). I love my family, and truthfully, that no matter what they love and support me. We haven't always gotten along, and I might have called them names a time or two. But don't you dare call them a name because as their big sister I'll always be there to defend them.

How'd We Do

Work is way more tiring than summer vacation. But teaching energizes me! Week One may not have gone according to plan, but who says life should be rushed, especially if it's just to mark items off the to do list. Beowulf will soon be coming to life again as we decide whether he is an epic hero and determine what exactly is his quest. And Janie will come of age as we analyze what we've read over the summer. Thanks to all for one of the best starts! Let's get busy!

A Shared Room

28 years leads to a strong sense of deja vu. Been there, done that. But still full of excitement and hopefulness as yet another school year begins. Sharing a room. You know we'll be inhabiting a rather square room with each other for at least 90 minutes every other day. I can't wait to get to know each of you and then to watch you grow as we learn together. I truly believe learning should be fun as often as possible. Reality is that some things we will read and some things we write may not turn out quite as I plan, though I will always have the best of intentions. We'll just all have to remember that learning and life is a journey. We'll all make mistakes, so let's just plan now to forgive each other's goof ups. True redemption leads us to good. We'll learn from our mistakes as much, if not more, than we learn from our successes. I'm ready to begin, how about you?