Report Cards Done!

This was by far the week with the least Professional Development since school started. Why? Report Card comments! I tried to get a head start so I wouldn't be overwhelmed by them, but all of the other things like grading, coaching, being a wife, and a parent all demanded my attention, too. I made it though ~ maybe I will go to bed before 11 pm tonight. As a result of all the extra hours spent on report card comments and grading, all I did was a tiny bit of Twitter and listening to my weekly dose of podcasts.
Truth for Teachers was particularly timely because it talked about how to reduce work hours by streamlining parent communication without looking like a slacker. The tip that stood out most to me was making standard email responses and then customizing them instead of spending hours crafting individual emails. Now if I can only find the time to sit down and type out the responses! I think I will go back through my sent email to copy and paste some I have already written.
Science Friday, as always, had a myriad of topics this week. I learned the most from the piece about how bitcoin currency works. I had no idea it was so complicated and that it required "mining." Another cool story was about the return of the whales to NYC. They talked about how the Clean Water Act and the Environmental Protection Act had allowed the manhaden to return. Once the manhaden returned as a food source the whales followed. So cool! I also learned about how large the wild mustang population is in the West and the insane amount of money that is being spent to "control" the population. It seems like there should be a more efficient and natural way of controlling these populations without the huge cost or animal cruelty. Flooding in Louisana, Chronic fatigue patients trying to get accurate diagnoses for themselves, and Neanderthal DNA were some of the other topics this week. I also found out about the #neatrock activity they have going where you take a picture of a cool rock and post it on social media. They will then have geologists check them out and tell you what kind of rock you have. I am going to do this with my children, just for fun!
On #IMMOOC I am behind and hope to watch 2 episodes this week. Seriously looking forward to my chair massage tomorrow!