End?

I'm starting to feel the impending end of summer.

My shin splints have become bad enough that I've decided to take a couple of days off from running. Which is driving me crazy. Yesterday, I met up with a local running club and tagged along with the back of a pack of about 30 runners for a couple of miles. It was really fun, and I met some cool people. By the end, though, my leg was killing me, and only some good Olympics discussion and pizza could help. Hopefully, I will feel better very soon, and get to go back for next week's run. It's nice making friends, including an economics researcher and an unemployed physical therapist.

Instead, I decided to finally get back into bread-making. I love baking. I love bread. I've been really lazy about baking this summer, but in the new apartment, I'm not allowed to have any pets, so I decided to raise a sourdough starter.  My first loaf of bread will be ready in about 15 minutes, and I can't wait! When I was in grad school, I baked all the time, probably a loaf or more each week. I know I'll be busy this year, but I'd like to keep up with baking.

Baking bread takes a lot of time, but it's not busy time. Sourdough, especially, which is my favorite. The whole process takes about 24 hours, but it's only about 15 minute of work. It's mostly waiting for the bread to rise or rest or cook. It's also really, really satisfying. I've made bread too sweet, too savory, too dense, too crumbly, and too lots of other things, but there's still the aroma of fresh baked bread and the taste of warm, delicious carbs.

On Monday, I start professional development at my new school. I will have three weeks of this before school starts for real. And before that I've had homework.

Teachers are smart. We know people. And the management at North Star Academy knows that if we are not given a writing assignment to go along with our required reading, we may not read every word quite so carefully. I know that. Even just reading the questions helps guide my reading, so I know what to look out for, and answering the questions helps reinforce the material by having me think about it enough to reword concepts. It's standard teacher stuff.

Today I read through the school's instructional guidelines. It is a set of instructions for everything from planning lessons in the school's chosen format to the hallway routines to the daily school workings to how to talk to parents. It's everything I wish I knew in my last school. Last year, I didn't know what homeroom was supposed to be like until I got a not-so-nicely worded letter from my principal in October. I know I could have asked the question, but I thought I was doing okay and didn't really know I was doing it wrong. Now, I have a set of expectations ahead of time.

Expectations, remember those? A lot of the major improvements in my classroom in the second half last year were due to a revision of my expectations. High expectations, making them clear, and enforcing them. The students need high expectations, or they'll accept mediocrity. They need to be told the expectations in a clear and concise manner, because I can't assume they come to school knowing exactly what to do every day. I guess teachers do too.

I can't wait. I can't wait in that nervous, nonspecific anxiety sort of way. I can't do anything more to prepare, but I can't just sit patiently. I hope the next few days fly by so I can get started, but I don't want the summer to end. (Well, I can't wait for THIS summer to end, but that's another story.) I don't know what to do with myself for the next three days. Instead, I'll open up the oven and have a slice of fresh homemade sourdough.