Well, last night was the night. I woke up from a sound sleep and my mind immediately raced through the dozens of “to do” items that I want to accomplish before teachers and students arrive. We only get to start the school year once and I want everything to go perfectly.

Tomorrow we will go, as a school community, to Poplar Ridge on the grounds of UVA to build our team.  The feedback from teachers has been exceptionally positive; in fact, in general all of my interactions with the staff have been positive and energizing.  I really look forward to our collaboration.

On Thursday we will debrief our experiential learning at Poplar Ridge and take our first stab at defining a vision for our 2015-16 school year.  We invited students to participate in a panel discussion about their hopes and dreams for the coming year.  While this will take a good chunk of our day, it is very important work.

I will take a few minutes to post again after we have had some of these experiences together.