Word Crimes

Weird Al, I must profess my love for you. You are now the hero to so many frustrated teachers.  I can't wait to incorporate Weird Al's "Blurred Lines" parody into my ELA classrom.  Check it out--Word Crimes!  This is officially my classroom theme song.

Disclaimer:  Please forgive me for any "Word Crimes" committed on my blog.

In Summer...

I took the summer off.  Off in the sense that I am not teaching summer school.  I can't turn my brain off.  I am reading two professional books--Notice and Note and Falling in Love with Close Reading.  I have also spent some time going through our new textbook while attempting to map out the framework for next year.  My pinterest board has a new board called 2015 Must Dos.  Every summer I make myself a list of things that I must accomplish before returning to work.  So far, I feel like I've dabbled in a lot, but I haven't been able to really cross anything off of my list.

What do you do during the summer?  Do you take the summer off, and forget teaching completely?  Do you create a list and check it off one by one?  Please share your game plan!