Planning and Thanksgiving Break

It is time. The weather has turned cooler.  The leaves are beginning to fall, and Thanksgiving is right around the corner.  Literally.  It is next week and with that comes an entire week off, a whole blissful, relaxing week to sleep in and lounge around in yoga pants with a hot cup of coffee and a great book.  Who am I kidding! It's a week filled with football or basketball practices (fingers crossed it will be football).  But, it is also a week to plan, to read, and then plan some more. 

I do this every break we get from school. Thanksgiving. Christmas. Spring Break. Summer. I use the majority of the time reading and researching and planning.  I gave benchmarks this whole week to my classes (7th grade and 10th grade) that are still on the STAAR test timeline. There is data to break down and figure out who really still needs what.  I also need to take a look at my teaching and see where I came up short.  Although I want to think every single lesson I teach rocks, the reality is while I may think I did a great job, my students data will show me the truth. It's ugly and there might be a few tears, but it is necessary.  

My American Literature class is about to start The Crucible, and I need this break to get all my materials organized.  One of these days, I will gather all this into a binder and be the ultra organized teacher who can just grab the binder and go.  But, if you read my first post, you know how I rarely keep anything the same from year to year.  And, if I do, it is most likely lost in the abyss that is my haphazard filing system.  Think Dorie, when I come across that great activity! Oh hey, look at this awesome...wait, that looks familiar.

So, while I am looking forward to yoga pants every day and the alarm not going off at 5:30 a.m.,  (Caution: nerd alert ahead!) I am really looking forward to time away from my classes to plan...for my classes. And, shopping for a binder!