My sister is here for a wedding, and we get to see her right before school starts! Anyone who knows Era understands how encouraging that is. We had a great time going through her old things, looking at her projects from elementary school (it made me want to create the kind of projects my students want to keep). We also stopped by the school where I work to show Era my new room, now almost ready for the kids (it’s amazing how much work teachers do right before students arrive, and how coworkers and friends team up). Side note—I also like my team, which is really comforting and exciting as well. Looking through my syllabus and working on fitting in new collaborative (unforgettable;) projects, I am most looking forward to getting to know my new students and incorporating their interests. We have a very diverse group, and my most important goal is to create a community, which thankfully has literally been planned into our curriculum, from morning meeting to our content lessons.

Having a little fun with acronyms in honor of my beautiful sister, I present to you a new E.R.A for 2018-2019: excellence, reaching out, appreciation (if you know Era, you know she embodies these three pretty much every day)

E—excellence.
I will do my best to treat the students with love and respect as I engage them in meaningful assignments.

R—reaching out to others to support each other and collaborate together

A—appreciation of each day (gratitude journal). Appreciation of students, coworkers, and my family and friends. Modeling appreciation to and for my students.

As I used to say to Era, “Go get ‘em, tiger!” Let’s make the first week truly special for our kids!