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Thanksgiving Break 2008

1106973_autumn_gourds_and_suchAs I’ve written in the past in How Not To Waste Spring Break (or Summer Vacation, or Christmas Break, or Saturday, or Tonight!), I prefer to spend my down time doing things productive.

I am fortunate that my school is off for this entire week. So what have I done?

  • Caught up on housework
    As a single guy, housekeeping just doesn’t seem to find its way to the top of my priority list all the time. This weekend, I caught up on laundry, cleared out some space in my spare bedroom and made it a functional office, completely cleaned the living room, and just got caught up on things that fall behind.
  • Mariachi practice
    Mariachi has become my life outside of school in a lot of ways. We had three gigs last week and had a rehearsal on Saturday morning. I also had a trumpet sectional on Monday before leaving town to visit my family.
  • All region music
    I worked with a couple of high school students on their all region music also on Monday.
  • Visit family and friends
    I spent almost all day yesterday driving to my parents house in the Dallas area.
  • Spent a few hours writing
    I chronicled the History of Music Education Blogging on Monday. It took a bit longer than I had anticipated, but less time than I had feared. It was good for me to read through so many blogs.

What I did not do

  • Take my computer with me
    I made the conscious decision to leave my laptop at home. This helps me spend time with my family and friends instead of hiding away in my room working on the blog or whatever. In fact, after today, I won’t look at the blog again until I get home this weekend.
  • School work
    I am doing no school work. No grading, no score study, no listening to our Christmas music. Nothing. Things are going really well in school. Discipline is not a problem, now I just get to sit back and enjoy my time off.

What about you? How are you spending the vacation?

Joel Wagner (@sywtt) began teaching band in 2002. Though he had a lot of information, his classes were out of control. He found himself tired, frustrated, disrespected by students, lonely, and on the brink of quitting.

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He had had enough. He resigned from his school district right before spring break of his second year and made it his personal mission to learn to be a great teacher. So You Want To Teach? is the ongoing story of that quest for educational excellence.

Joel Wagner
Joel Wagner (<strong><a href="http://www.twitter.com/sywtt">@sywtt</a></strong>) began teaching band in 2002. Though he had a lot of information, his classes were out of control. He found himself tired, frustrated, disrespected by students, lonely, and on the brink of quitting. He had had enough. He resigned from his school district right before spring break of his second year and made it his personal mission to learn to be a great teacher. <strong><a href="http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/">So You Want To Teach?</a></strong> is the ongoing story of that quest for educational excellence.
http://www.SoYouWantToTeach.com

2 thoughts on “Thanksgiving Break 2008

  1. Yeah, I need to catch up on housework too. I did do a load of laundry last night (though it’s still resting serenely in the dryer). But there is lots more to clean.
    I also need to take a load of dress clothes to the dry cleaner, go grocery shopping, finish grading some papers (finally a break to have TIME to grade!), do a bit of writing for next week’s CoE, and catch up on my half-full DVR…
    Happy Thanksgiving!!

  2. I am doing similar things as you. I am not grading a single paper. However, I must lesson plan! Otherwise, come Monday, I’ll be up a creek. I am planning on reworking my resume and portfolio so that when I go on vacation. .I can possible have somethings to share with colleagues or prospective employers.

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