I am writing here only once a year, so maybe it's time to admit that I am not a blogger.  Last school year was an intense one in which Philadelphia Schools settled on a contract, and our school delved into project-based, real-world learning while striving to deliver the test practice that helped us achieve AYP.  This year we returned to find a new organization of three deans instead of two and more technology to learn.  I'm ready for it.  I've been given almost all of the English 3, which implies a level of trust.  My creative writing class is running for the 4th year in a row.  I have based it mostly on Linda Christensen's Reading, Writing, and Rising Up, with a dose of Philadelphia Young Playwrights (we had a winner last year), and an even larger dose of This I Believe. 
     I'm hoping to write during that class myself.  This summer, I went to Edinburgh to take a creative writing course for me--not for teaching methods.  I figured that if I couldn't write, I could attend 4 major international festivals.  Instead, I started to write seriously, fictionalizing stories I have been carrying around for years. Now I am planning to participate in a PhilWP writer's support group AND planning to attend a retreat for women writers.  Maybe continuing--starting-- this blog will be part of the writing this year.