Though the first day of school is still two weeks away, teachers and staff are already trickling back into RHS to get ready for another great year. I found a little time to start putting our classroom back together during Chromebook roll-out, but it’s still a little ways away from being ready.

Even if it meant neglecting my cleaning (oh darn), being a part of the roll-out last week was so much fun. I loved seeing new and returning students get excited about their Chromebooks, and it was wonderful to catch up and find out what they had been doing all summer. (Plus, there’s nothing like a cheerful “Ms. Andrade!/Ms. Melly!” hollered out over an auditorium to put me in a good mood.)

One of the staff working in the lobby during checkout called this “a hopeful time of year.” She’s absolutely right: teachers, students, parents, principals, secretaries, custodians, superintendents, bus drivers, food service staff, counselors, school board members, everyone gets excited towards the beginning of August. There are new things to buy–notebooks, pens, backpacks, clothes, shoes–and new paths to take–acing tryouts, starting a new activity, creating a new identity. It’s almost like January 1 all over again. We all get a chance to make new resolutions, establish new goals, and start fresh all over again.

One of my New (School) Year’s resolutions is to make good on my promise from last week: that our Chromebooks will be more than new tools doing the same old things, but instead will be engines to bring our classrooms into the world.

 

What are your New Year’s resolutions? Do you have any hopes of your own to share as we begin this August?

 

Have a very happy New Year, and see you on August 15th!

~Melly