July 17th and the feeling that I will not be prepared for September starts to grow. I mean just about three months is a really nice, long time for a teacher to get her act together in order to be ready for the students. What other profession has this kind of schedule? And yet I sit and waste tons of time online and order new books (the collection of essays by Alfie Kohn looks fascinating and right up my alley).

I need to put together a vocabulary program because I don't want to rely on those big books they've used in the past. I want the vocab to be FUN and INTERESTING and PERTINENT. Plus I have to re-read all the titles so I can maybe guide the kids through them... and perhaps learn something new myself.

Then I need to scan all my how-to-teach-middle-school books to see if they have any magic solutions that I might need. Honestly, I am looking forward to working with this age group, but there is a lot I can't know until I get into it.

My own high school reunion is scheduled (away) for the second week of my school year, and I just think I'll be too pooped to enjoy the party... Plus I didn't get to go on that drastic diet I've been planning most of my life. Sigh. In some ways, summer is a very tough time for my mind. Not a Folk Singer advises severing ties with the things that make us insane--but what if we ourselves are the culprits?