One month later....

Holy crap, I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted. Does anyone besides the usual people even read this thing anymore? Damn. Anyway, this'll be short and sweet since I've talked to --well, all of you recently.

I had my bi-annual sojourn back to Michigan. As always, it was great times. I got to hang out with Amanda WITHOUT Andrea, which was pretty cool. We were able to spend the day with Katey and her kids. We went to the zoo, and afterwards, we hung out at Katey's house for a while. Amanda told me later that she felt totally comfortable around all of us, like she had always been there. It's been a rocky almost-18 years, and things haven't always turned out the way I'd hoped they would (especially in terms of her home life)...but, as she approaches 18, if she's able to have the kind of relationship with her birth family that I'd always hoped for, everything will have been (almost) worth it. Next time, I hope for her to meet Missy and her boys and Nikki. (Because it goes without saying that I consider them part of her "birth" family.) And Renee, she really wants to meet you, too. For her to meet my best friend??? That would be AWESOME.

So...there was that. We also had Girls' Weekend, which was on a whole new level this year, thanks to the presence of Lynda, Missy and Nikki. Ladies, I hope it was everything you had envisioned and more. GOOD TIMES. Everyone, start saving for GW 2011: The Florida Edition. ;) If you save just $1 a week, you'll have.....$52. Hmmm. Okay, save more than that then. ;)

School is starting up shockingly soon. I spent this past week working on a project for corporate, creating math tests that will be used by all the schools in our company. Go me! (No, I'm not getting paid.) I still have a few days' worth of work ahead of me. Teachers report back the week of the 16th (with students reporting on the 23rd), but, as always, I'm sure I'll be back the week before that to get my room set up. Needless to say, summer is definitely slipping away. This is BULLSHIT. We teachers had like 7 weeks off this time around. Yes, I know, your hearts are bleeding for me. ;) And on top of that, I had to take a class this summer. So much for that relaxing 3 months off that everyone is sure educators enjoy every year. ;)

We'll have 2 new teachers on the 5th grade team this year, too. We lost one (as we just found out yesterday), and we're adding a class so we need one additional teacher--which, as you may recall, will be Hot Married Friend In a Tiara (hereafter referred to as HMFIAT). The 3 of us who are returning will have to train/initiate new teachers for the first time in a couple years--and we've never had 2 in one year. We've been a pretty static team, till now. I know HMFIAT will fit in well, but the 2nd new teacher is a total crapshoot; we have no idea who we'll get. Hopefully they won't suck and break up the 5th grade groove.

Okay....do me a favor and comment, so I know you all are still out there. ;)

The scores are in...

My kids, sadly, didn't do as well as I had hoped for.

Then again, neither did the entire 5th grade. To show a year's worth of growth, a student has to go up a certain number of points from last year to this year (say, 150. It varies depending on the subject and grade). The average growth in, as an example, 5th grade reading, was +9. Yes, nine. (Again, this is for our grade as a whole.) Well, judging by THAT, my students did well. Twenty of my 25 kids did better than the grade-wide average. * However, of those kids, only 6 or so showed the amount of growth they SHOULD have for an academic year. In other words...my kids went up--but maybe not enough. Ugh.

*Math was worse for my kids. Only 10 did better than the 5th grade average.

Old friends

I talked to an old friend on the phone the other night for like an hour. (Renee, two words: Wide Load.) He's a (married) teacher down here in FL now, too. We haven't talked in, hell, probably almost ten years (not on the phone, anyway), and yet the conversation was effortless. It's hard to find people that can happen with, so when it does, you know you have a good friend. Hopefully, we can keep in touch more frequently this time...but even if I don't talk to him for another decade, it's good to know that the friendship will be there, waiting.