Tomorrow I start back to school/work for real. The students return! I’m nervous every year, but this year is different because I am starting a new school. For the last two years I knew 3/4 of my students before the first day, so having all new students is a bit intimidating. In addition to a new school and new students, my schedule is completely different here. Whereas I was teaching 45 minute periods, now I am doing 90 minute blocks. I think this new time frame will really support my teaching style, which is hands on, however new is often intimidating. There are so many positives about this job that I am excited about. I will be working closer to home with a general population of students. This school is tiny (less than 300 in the high school), which I think will allow me to get to know both students and teachers. The administrators seem really supportive. We’ll see how it goes. Even if for some reason it’s absolutely horrible, it is only for one year.

A new school year for me is a great time to set some new goals. These goals will be much less lofty and activity centered than my year long goals.

Here they are:

1. Work out 1 or 2 mornings a week – I am not a morning person so this may be more difficult than it appears. I hope to find a class I like in the morning and do that.
2. Take over all the laundry – Jeremy I currently split this duty, but sometimes someone shrinks things, so I want to start doing it. However he doesn’t always like my laundry time frame.
3. Bake more bread – I would love to stop buying bread; however baking bread, even with a breadmaker, is time consuming.
4. Grade faster – I hope to devise some way to get my grading done more efficiently, while maintaining accuracy.
5. Stay well – This may seem simple, but being around 100 students of questionable cleanliness makes it quite difficult sometimes. To achieve this I plan to drink lots of water, wash my hands with good old fashioned soap and water, avoid touching my face, get lots of rest (I’m not so good at this one), and of course get a flu shot. Last year was a very healthy year for me, and I would love to have another year like that.

Do you have a time of year where you make new goals for your life or your work life?