Firstly, for all you 1st year teachers finishing up your year, congratulations! The summer break after my first year teaching was well-deserved and particularly sweet. My unsolicited advice to you is to gather a few resources to get you ready for next year – trust me, it will pay off when you start your year. I would buy books online and fill them full of post-it notes; the more important pages i would photocopy and place in a special folder. I started this school year with more focus and with a better sense of how i was going to run my classroom.

Since school is out, I need to make a plan so i will be at least mildly productive over the next 3 months.

TO DO:
1)Move! – I’m almost done, actually. I just need to get my water turned on and get my bed/couches moved.

2)Acquaint myself with the new curriculum – *sigh* The most dreaded part of my summer, but the more I know, the better position I will be in to start the year..

3)Get a TB test – Man, my stay in TX has meant TB tests. This will be my 3rd in 3 years, but the test is necessary to teach in TX.

4)Re-read A Series of Unfortunate Events – Hey, they are really entertaining and smart books

5)Go to Monterrey, Mexico at least once – I haven’t been in a while and I am anxious to go back, especially since I speak Spanish a lot better now.

6)Write at least 2 letters to friends a week

7)Get a passport – starting January 2008, US citizens will need a passport to enter back in to the USA, so I need to get mine this summer while I have the chance.

Ok, so this list is not exhaustive and it doesn’t include the non-measurable objectives, like “train for a century bike ride” or “go to the beach more.” However, I do have 3 months of summer vacation to get it done. I signed my contract with my new district today and it is official! My summer will end August 17th, so I better get started tomorrow!