Monday Motivators!

[Granny, Grandpa, & the granddaughters in South Haven]

I remember when summer vacation was roughly 10 weeks long. When our family trips to South Haven, Michigan were just the beginning of a long, sun-drenched, water-logged leisurely summer.  By the end of those long breaks, it was almost as if you were re-entering school groggy, after a long, deep sleep.

Not these days.

[Sno Cones right in front of our condo in SH]

[Our family took many walks along this beach, tracing Lake Michigan]

Even though my husband and I work in schools, there are two reasons those 10 week summers will likely never be a part of our work year:

1. We're now school administrators, not teachers. They just work more.
2. We work for charter schools, which are largely switching to year-round schedules.

We're actually pretty thrilled by this.  Not only do we have a more balanced year where a couple of months of hard work are followed by healthy breaks, our students are now receiving more consistent doses of instruction, with minimal time to lose critical skills.

Okay, hoppin' off the soap box. The reason I'm explaining this is because, as of today, July 8, my summer vacation has already come to an end! And I couldn't be more excited.

Today I officially start a brand new job as an 

early childhood instructional coach!!

What this means is that I'll be traveling among our charter network's 4 schools and giving instructional advice and guidance to teachers of grades PK-2.  This will come in the form of:
--Lesson observations
--Model lessons taught by me (to their students while they observe and take notes)
--Professional development sessions where we study different teaching strategies as a group, and
--The creation and sharing of new and innovative resources and materials to make the lessons better.

[Kindergarteners learning the properties of a square]

*This (from what I can surmise) is going to be my dream job.*

I've already done most of the work setting up my new office.  It's located in that room you see behind this kindergarten classroom. 

[Nearly done. 

Just need to bring my remaining binders, plants & pictures]

[I found this t-shirt that the school had made for the kids...too cute.  

It's a play on words from a local saying, Who 'dat ]

I've been sinking my teeth into some of my favorite professional books, making initial plans for upcoming professional learning sessions. 

If this all works out the way we're hoping (husband got a promotion within the same organization as well--doubly exciting) then we'll know that NOLA is the place for us to be for awhile. It may have taken 10 years in the field to find my "zone", but if this is it, it wil be worth the wait.

All of you out there deserve to have a job you're in love with,

 so if you're not in it, go out and GET IT!  

Happy Monday, everyone... make it a great week.