Another year down

Well it's definitely been awhile since I fired up the blog.  And now I feel like I do when I need to go for a run (which coincidentally I need to do after I finish writing) where I just don't know where to start, what to say, and so I procrastinate and find mindless things to do to waste my time and take away my focus.  Gotta trudge through I guess.

First I really enjoyed my first year at my new school and jumping up to high school (and AP).  I work with some good folks, got to coach lacrosse again, and had a blast even though it was quite a whirlwind at times handling all that AP entails.  I'll (hopefully) talk more about all that I'm planning for next year throughout the summer, but it was definitely good and reassuring to hear from many of my students that they thought they were ready for the exam and well prepared.  I've done something right as they're adding another class of APWH next year taking me up to over 110 AP students.  That or I've really pissed someone off as I now have another 27 or so essays and work to grade this upcoming year.  Either way, I'm looking forward to the challenge and to finding new ways to teach the skills and content this year.  I just finished my AP certification this week at the AP Summer Institute and am now in the overwhelmed mode with all that I've gotten and trying to break it all down and process it.  Got two new texts, a whole set of online resources and my own free review book.  I used some of the down time in this week to start mapping out the year and planning my first two units.  I feel I've got a good mix of readings, activities, etc so far, now I just need to figure out how to tweak my notes, which is my big summer project along with surviving daddy daycare.  I got some good feedback from my students, and I need to find a balance between the overload of notes we did at the beginning of the year and minimalist efforts we did in the spring.  The mock AP exam I gave them as a final backed that up too as my students usually did much better on the earlier units as opposed to the recent.  But I've had some good talks with the other AP teachers in my hallway about some similar practices we can all do in our classes, and now the next step is incorporating those, the new resources & information I received this week, and putting all of those things together for the fall.  And also finding time to read a few books and run a lot more.  Daddy daycare will hopefully be easier this year since the twins are nearly 2 and are mobile and more independent.  Of course the downside is they're more mobile and independent.  The playset and fenced in yard should help along with our gym's nursery to keep me sane and allow me for some adult contact here and there.

Will definitely write again next week as nap time will be my work time this summer and I want to get some headway before we head off for our family vacation.  I'll also do a good write up on my final AP tournament project in the next few days as well.  Off to run and find some inspiration, ideas, etc.  Thanks for reading, til next time.