December 1-30
In December, things slowed down a bit. Sort of. While I didn't have any days out for TOY events, I did have a research paper due, a final exam (another 15 pages), grades to catch up on and Christmas shopping to do.
In December, things slowed down a bit. Sort of. While I didn't have any days out for TOY events, I did have a research paper due, a final exam (another 15 pages), grades to catch up on and Christmas shopping to do.
The first big event of the month was when the Acting Commissioner, Chris Cerf, came to BCIT to co-teach a class with me. He made the offer back in October at the State Board of Ed meeting when I was named NJ TOY, but the provision was that there would be no cameras, video or press. I took him up on the offer. I was a little nervous because the lesson was on political philosophy of the Enlightenment, but I laid out a plan and we really co-taught the class. All the kids knew was that this was my friend Mr. Cerf from Trenton who used to be a history teacher. They actually liked him and by the end of the day, my students were asking why an earlier class had the good guest speaker and they didn't. I asked the class the next day what they thought and they genuinely liked him and thought he could relate. No easy task with my kids.
The next night was a dinner meeting with the ladies of Delta Kappa Gamma, a honor society of professional women educators. They had come recruiting me for membership before I had really won any awards, so I hold these ladies in high regard. At the meeting, they voted to let me join and so I would be inducted in March.
The following Monday Classroom Close-up came in to film my Teacher of the Year episode and featured the Civil War Letter Project that I have been working on with the Burlington County Historical Society. The kids were great, as usual, and the video turned out well. 
Check out the episode here
That same day, I was on a panel discussion about National Board Certification at ETS. I recently got my Take One! score which was a 3.5 and I am anxious to complete the process. Unfortunately, that will have to wait until next school year because there is no way I will get it done before I leave on sabbatical in January.
All the while, I had some revision to do on my research paper (18 pages) and a final exam to complete (15 pages, 2 questions) for my History of American Education class. My goal of pursuing that doctorate is going to have to be placed on hold for a while too. By the time I got to Christmas, I was so exhausted I didn't want to do anything but sleep. I found that I would fall asleep while typing papers, hands on the keyboard. Thank goodness I would be out on sabbatical at the end of January, because trying to keep up this sort of pace would have taken its toll shortly.
