List #1: To Do

This week I need to:

1. Make my kid's halloween costume. I know, it's only two days away, which means I've procrastinated on this one almost as long as humanly possible. To be fair, his hair will make up most of his costume, so all I really need to do is make him a headband with ears on it, and maybe a tail. You see, his hair has the potential to be giant. It's so curly, that will a little brushing and a bit of hairspray, he'll have grown his very own mane, and can then go around the neighborhood roaring (or as he pronounces it "whyyyying") at people, and he'll make a perfectly wonderful lion (or yiyon, if you want to be specific). Which brings me to:

2. Make my halloween costume. I was going to be Ms. Frizzle. I still might. I'm so torn. Because I look like Ms. Frizzle, and I'm a teacher, and I have dresses with lots of skirt and big earrings and tons of hair. BUT. I could easily be a yiyon tamer instead, which would be even funnier. Maybe.

3. Laundry. Always.

4. Pull down all my sweaters from the high shelf in the closet. Ross and I share one little dresser, because we have a small room in a small house, and so I can't keep my sweaters in there during summer time. But man, it's gotten cold lately, so I think it's time.

5. Rework my revolutions project. I wrote this project during my first year teaching, with my awesome students teacher at the time, Adrienne. It asks the students to study the art of a particular country, a revolution within that country, then analyze how the revolution was expressed through art, and then create their own art project based on that country and their revolution. It's complex and important and I'm really proud of it, but last year, it didn't work. The kids complained more than they ever have before, they didn't do it right, they actively tried to do it differently, blah blah blah. It was really frustrating, and I'm still not sure why it didn't work, but I do know I need to make some changes. So I'm going to rework it somewhat, and instead of making it a month-long project at the end of the year, I want to spread things out more. Which hopefully will cull a lot of the "I didn't have enough time" complaints. Because a full semester has got to be enough time, right? And I want to document this adjustment, which will help me to:

6. Start writing my National Boards. I've signed up for, and partially paid for, the National Board Certification Program for teachers. It's an intense and writing heavy evaluation of my work as a teacher, and I just can't seem to get started on the actual writing. Ha. I've kind of laid out my plan in terms of lessons and goals and things, but somehow that first bit of writing just doesn't happen. I think part of it is that I'm used to paper prompts and instructions, and this is all in PDF form, and it just doesn't feel natural to me. The other part is that it's not as fun as blogging or talking to my coworkers or almost anything else.

7. Share this with people. I haven't told anyone except my mother (HI MOM) about this blog. I mean, I've mentioned it in passing, but I haven't given anyone the link. I'm a little bit chicken, and a little bit not ready, and a little more shy about my writing, and basically a whole pile of things that add up to "I don't want to share because what if I suck at this" which is silly, cause it's already out there on the internet. Seriously, though, I may enjoy my lists, but I don't know if anyone else will.

8. Beef up the Etsy site. We have a few things there, but not enough. I'm not confident in the pictures I'm taking of Ross's paintings, or of my photography canvases, and so I haven't put them up. But I can always change them, right?