Recap of the Week and Future Class Blogging Plans

I haven't written much this week for several reasons, but mostly because testing has taken a huge chunk out of my free time. I've been the administrator for the 6th grade EOG at Catawba Valley High, so I didn't get a planning period all week, and guess what that means? All of the papers I would have graded during my planning period had to be graded at home, which I despise. Couple my lack of paper grading time at school with the new workout schedule I've now been on for two weeks and you'll find one exhausted teacher.

Unfortunately, the workout schedule has translated into a measly two pounds of weight loss in two weeks. I guess I'm really going to have to go back to eating more intelligently if I'm going to get back into ball-playing shape again. Right now, comfort food just feels necessary all too often. That's just another hole I'll need to dig myself out of as I work on this "new normal" that really doesn't seem normal at all yet.

On a brighter note, I think I've figured out what I'm going to do to keep myself busy this summer. I was fiddling around with Google Documents the other day and realized that you can embed PowerPoint presentations into blog posts. Since I use a PowerPoint in class every single day and I've had two semesters now of my students blogging their classwork, I might jump in the deep end with a class blog in the fall. I want to incorporate all of the following:

• Scheduled posts for each class day with that day's PowerPoint (hopefully complete or nearly complete before the summer is over)
• Directions, rubrics, due dates, and any other necessary materials for each assignment
  
• Q&A Section for each assignment where students can read the answers to previously asked questions before they ask me

If I can pull this off, a student who misses a day of class can just pull up the blog and see everything we did in class that day, print anything they need, and even turn it in... and I won't have the hassle of hoping I remember where the materials for that day are located.