Hi.  How are you, JU?  I hope you're well as your summers are winding down.  It seems like it's went SO fast. 

It has, I guess.  A few days after school got out in June, I went to Minnesota for a couple of weeks, and then I taught summer school for five weeks, and I've been spending the past couple of weeks finishing paperwork for summer school and trying to get my classroom ready for students.  Last Monday I had an inservice because I'm piloting a new science program for my district.  I *love* science, and I get to teach about rocks, sand, and silt, and in the spring we'll do plants in this new program.  In between there, I still have to teach the magnets and butterflies units, too.  Science and social studies are where ALL kids can be successful.  I don't have as many students with special needs this year, so hopefully we'll be able to work in some times where those students can be in the classroom for those lessons.

I am just about ten weeks away from having my master's degree.  I'm not really as thrilled as I was when I started.  It doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me any more.  I think that I'm just totally burned out.  We have a two week break right now, which is EXCEEDINGLY stupid considering we have just ONE more class left.  We've been doing this for over a year and a half now, and I think we can handle taking a class while school starts.  If we can't we have no business doing this.  The biggest deal is a pay raise I'll receive in January.  And it really isn't even that much.  I can't complain...I get paid VERY well.  Hopefully if we get all this debt paid off, it won't be that big of a deal if we take a pay cut if we move back to Minnesota.

I'm excited for this year's class.  I had a rough year last year, with lots of days where I thought I wouldn't make it.  My students were awesome, amazing kids, who challenged the crap out of me.  I'm anticipating fewer behavior problems this year, but I've come to the conclusion that I can handle alot more than I thought I could.  I can handle kids telling me they're going to kill me or themselves, and I can handle kids who are in my 2nd grade class that are so smart they should be in 7th grade.  I can handle the kiddos who speak little to no English.  I can handle kids in my class who don't know their letters and sounds yet.  I can handle difficult colleagues.  There's a lot I can do...and a lot I need to work on.  We have a new principal this year, and I think he'll be an amazing person to work for.  I think he can really work with me to improve the places where I need improvement.  I also got my first request ever for me to be someone's teacher...look at this email I got:

Marcie,

I had a parent call me yesterday and request that her child be placed in your class.  She felt very strongly about your teaching style and efforts that you have made making a connection with her daughter.  The child is *BLEEP*.  Would you have a problem with her being placed in your class?  With her your class reaches 20.

Would you please let me know.

Thanks,

 *BLEEP*

I'm so all about that.

Okay.  I've been slacking off on this exercising thing.  I think I'm going to go find a pair of socks, put on the Nikes, fill up the MP3 player, and walk for a little bit.  I haven't run for a while.  The running makes my liver dump the glucose, and makes my blood sugars go high and stay high, even after my meds and my nighttime fast.  I think I'll just stick to walking for now, and I'll talk to the doctor about it when I go in next month.  Next month is a blood test month, too, so hopefully that will go good.

Here I go.  Take care, friends!