Whew! What a week. It's always way more stressful preparing for the kids than it is when they arrive. Luckily for me I work with an extremely strong team on my grade level. We have been keeping each other in check and sharing ideas. One of my goals for this school year is to be less "conceited." What I mean by that is I want to be more open to my colleagues' ideas. So far I have found that it is less stressful to be more collaborative. It's good for team chemistry, and definitely helps get the work done more efficiently.

Our Open House was a huge success. I saw about 80% of my parents and have already created email distribution lists for my classes. I believe that in the 7th grade it is crucial for parents and teachers to communicate as much as possible. Some people believe 12 and 13 year-olds need to be more independent. I believe the exact opposite. This is the time when they are going through a lot of changes (physically, mentally and socially). They need caring adults in their lives more than ever. For this reason I make an asserted effort to establish a strong line of communication between the classroom and home as soon as possible. So far things are going great (then again, it is only the first week).