Time to Plan

For those of us involved in education in a school on the traditional calendar this is a busy time.  All student work, teaching activities and grades are coming to a crashing end.  Still, it is also time to look ahead and start thinking about next Fall and whether to make changes and how to improve on this year.  My next opportunity to do planning will occur on my first day back, with some staff development days that are useful, but give little time for the personal and departmental planning that is also needed.  We need to think about ways to make teaching work more like the profession it is with times for development, and grading, and professional growth outside of the time that is mandated for student contact.  Also needed are teacher preparation spaces (offices) outside of the teaching classroom.