Post 51?

After a long summer off I now return to one new school year, two new teaching opportunities, and the 51st blog post. What do I write about now? Do I reflect on my fantastic summer? Do I try to articulate the pre-first day angst I feel every year? Do I complain about the wasted back-to-school in-service time I spent sitting in a chair and trying to stay attentive to our administrators as the ushered in the year? I don’t think so.

Two very significant educational career developments (three if you count my new 20” iMac that I’m writing on at the moment) occurred over the summer. First, I was hired to teach in the teacher credential program at our local university. During the interview process I had to make a presentation. It bombed. I then sat down for a one-on-one interview. I brought a few selected blog entries and a host of other materials with me. Something convinced the Dean that I was an appropriate choice to work with new teachers, and a few days later I received an email that asked me to teach a course called Teaching and Learning in Secondary Schools. This is a dream come true for me. I’ve known for some time that I wanted to work with young teachers to help guide their path into the classroom. It’s why I started writing this blog. This October I get my chance.

In August I audited the course while another instructor was teaching it. The instructor was a former colleague of mine from the high school I currently teach in. She has done a wonderful and gracious job helping me prepare. Even better, she’ll be teaching a different group of students during the same time period I will be teaching this fall. What luck! I’ve reviewed the texts and I am currently putting my lesson plans together. It’s fun to go back to the basics and mix in my experience and observations. I hope that the students are encouraged by my teaching, and go on to great success in their own educational careers.

The other development is a new high school course I will be teaching. Well, its not a new course, and I’m not new to it; but it’s been 10 years since I last taught Drama. In addition to my regular multimedia courses, and this year I will teach a section of Theatre Arts CP. I’m looking forward to going back to my roots and sharing with a whole new generation of students. Walking into the theatre last week for the first time in a very long time was amazing. Just the smell made me melancholy.

I suppose that my blog entries this year will be colored by these two new challenges. I intend to include blogging as one of the requirements for students in the college course. You may see links to their work from this site in the future. I’m looking forward to a great and challenging school year!