SOLs, Memorial Day Weekend, School's Out for Summer, and MORE

SOL Testing

SOL testing (State Standardized Testing)  is finished!  Won't get scores until the end of the month, and I am really anxious to see how my students did.  Preparing for the test was a stressful time, but we finished just in time for a long Memorial Day Weekend.

Memorial Day Weekend

Ted's parents came to visit for Memorial Day Weekend.  They'd been having a stressful time at home, and we were glad to have them come visit us and relax some.  We took them to Washington, DC, where they had not been for a while, and spent a LONG day.  The bad thing about the weekend was that my allergies went nuts, and I was SOOOO sick, but I survived and we had fun!

School's out for Summer!

The kids finished out the year Wednesday afternoon.   The last two weeks of school past the finish of my SOL test was more like babysitting than teaching.  I will miss my kids, but I am looking forward to summer school, and starting fresh next year.  I have lots of ideas for how I would like to run my classroom next year based on triumphs and failures this year!  Speaking of failures, only one student failed my class for the year, which is good, but I will say that the rule stating the LOWEST grade a student can make on an assignment is a 50, helped out quite a few.   Next week I go back to work for a couple planning days for next year and I start my graduate class and then I get a week off before summer school.

Dana's Graduate Class

This past week I registered for and pretested for the graduate class I am taking this summer and fall.  A grant and my school system are paying for the math teachers at my school to take a graduate course through University of Virginia covering Problem Solving and Lesson Study in Middle School Math Classrooms.  This is a really neat experience because I get 3 hours of graduate credit for FREE!  In fact, I am getting a $100 stipend and a free comp day for the fall.  The class is meeting mostly online but we will have a 5 or 6 in person meetings at my school, often during the school day.  We already got our textbooks (for free,)  and one of the ladies I teach with speaks the world of the professor, so I am really looking forward to our first real class this coming Wednesday!  I guess I am (kind of) a graduate student now.   A funny thing is that our principal who is English-trained is taking the course with us.  I admire that he is taking the effort to delve into math so that he can be a better support for the math department as we implement new strategies to increase student learning.  

Ted's Going to Detroit

Yesterday, Ted was approached by his supervisor to attend a conference in Detroit, Michigan in July.  The conference (if I can get this right) is to talk about how to make multicultural affairs offices and organizations at universities more impacting on campuses.  Ted might even be chaperoning the 3 undergraduate students attending.  Let's wish Ted luck!  :)  

That's all for today.  We miss and love all our far-away friends and family!

Love, Dana