Flying Feet First...

instead of by the seat of my pants. And, just to give some perspective, I got very good at flying by the seat of my pants last year. It was my first year teaching.

I'm fresh out of college, but I'm not 22. I'm 36. I have a family and a fabulous dog, and had another career before staying home with my daughters when my first was born. I never finished college (in fact, I didn't even start it very well), so I thought and thought and thought about what I could do; something meaningful. I was looking for a vocation. I kept circling back to teaching, and it stuck. So I went to school and graduated in June of 2008. I got hired two weeks before school started last fall.

I love my job.

I took a few weeks off after starting summer break; a little time away from thinking about teaching, reflecting on last year and considering what needs to be done differently. But now it's July, and I am giving myself permission to plan and dream again. And I am doing so obsessively.

Without getting into too many details and overwhelming myself (and you), I am going to state one goal and a statement or two about how I'm going to get there. Here goes:

Goal:
Fully implement Daily 5 and CAFE (Google it if you don't know what it is)

How:
Start writing out lesson plans for first two weeks of school.

I figure if I have a goal and plan to get there, then I won't flounder about with doing things that aren't critical to my year. Maybe my goal should have been "Make A List And Stick To It."