Winter blahs

Feels like everyone has the winter blahs right now.  My students are hating everything and soooo whiny.  And honestly, I can't really blame them.  Too much snow, too much dark, too much stuck inside.  Oh, and I'm making them learn stuff... gosh, I'm a real battle axe.  :) Even I'm feeling unmotivated right now as I try to teach research skills, and get students ready for the HSPE in March, and put out another edition of The Bagpiper at the end of the month.  But I'm trying to battle back. 

I've been putting in lots of workouts this month as I try to kickstart my health goals and finally lose some weight.  We've been cooking lots of healthy meals at dinnertime, and I've been hitting the salad bar at school.  So far, it's paying off.  I'm down 12 pounds since Christmas, and I feel a lot more energetic with the workouts and good food. 

In my classroom, I've been trying to throw some new twists into my class to force myself to be a good teacher right now.  I've added some research skills into my persuasive unit, and weekly on-demand essays for the sophomores (yep, I know I'll pay for that), and my journalism kids are learning how to layout in InDesign starting tomorrow, a new program for all of us.

And of course, the best part of the new year school-wise has been my basketball team.  I forgot how much I love to coach varsity players.  The 7th graders still have a lot to learn skill-wise, but they are so coachable, and they love the game, and this year they get the sportsmanship stuff too.  We've been killing it, a perfect 3-0 so far, which I also love. 

So that's been it, other then loving that I have no grading to do right now (well unitl tomorrow's essays come in...) One more night of freedom I guess.  :)