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Je Suis de Retour !

Salut, mes amis ! It has been far too long since I have blogged. The school year picked up for me in February and it was literally full steam ahead until today. Between February and today I did the following:
  • Taught and prepped 36 tenth-graders for the AP Euro exam (I did this all year, but the Feb-May part was home stretch stuff)
  • Planned our 2013 trip to London, Normandy & Paris (29 kids going!)
  • Took two graduate courses (for my MA Program for Holocaust and Genocide Studies...am taking two more now!)
  • Took a student field trip to the USHMM & organized a survivor to speak to my class
  • Drank some wine 
  • Organized/met a Polish-Jewish WWII Partisan (Resistance fighter - think Bielski Bros in Defiance) to come to our school and talk to our 10th graders
  • Organized and ran our regional NHD (National History Day) competition
  • Coached my fab four in NHD...they took 2nd in the state and will compete next week for the national title! 
  • Finished my duties as co-coordinator of Gifted
  • Planned & executed an amazing Prom as co-adviser of the Class of 2013
  • Did the mommy/wife thing
  • Drank some more wine
  • Ran a 5K (wish I could say "trained and ran" but I pretty much just went and ran it. then walked. then ran. then walked...but I finished!!)
  • Said goodbye to a dear friend who retired (and roasted him at his retirement party, which became the talk of the town - people were genuinely shocked that I was funny...while my students know I'm a giant goofball, I didn't know I hid that side so well from my colleagues. LOL)
  • Dreamed of Paris non-stop (it's a given, yes, but still had to say it!)
Wow. I'm exhausted just thinking about all of this...and I know I did more. The point is, I just didn't have time to write despite the fact that I really wanted to. Mais, je suis fini.  It is summer break. Hallelujah.

I do have some exciting news, though. In January, Bill and I are headed to a teacher's convention through our educational travel company (Passports) - IN PARIS!! I am thrilled beyond words, especially because we will be able to take our children with us! It has been my dream for so long to go as a family, and I cannot wait to share my beloved city with my children! Gabrielle is particularly pleased because she is also going with our student trip in July 2013...that will be from zero to two for her in less than a year!

I'm working on some material and hope to post a new blog by mid-week.  Thank you to those who left me encouraging words during my hiatus. It meant more to me than you know. À bientôt !

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