#5things I need to do before school starts

Well, when Julie (@jreulbach) tweeted about posting a blog by Friday, I thought that sounded easy enough, but it is 11pm on Friday night and I don't really thing I have much to say.  So I'll go to a structure that often works well for me:  #5things

1.  Take a survey of my supplies
I need to go through my supplies look at what I have and figure out what things I need to buy prior to the beginning of the year.  Everything is still all packed up, so I hesitate to do this because it means unpacking EVERYTHING!

2.  Update my syllabi
I'm teaching a class that I haven't taught for a few years, so I really need to update that syllabus, and there are some minor changes I will make to my others.  Those little updates should wait until we are back to school though, because I think we are making some school-wide changes that I will want to account for on the syllabi.

3.  Big picture lesson plans
I need to make sure I have big picture ideas for the courses I'm teaching this year.  I don't need to have every day planned out (although that would be nice), but I need a course map to follow to keep me on pace.

4.  Plan integration of statistics standards
I have decided that I'm done leaving statistics until the end of the year.  There is plenty we can do with statistics integrated into other units that will help differentiate between the ugly reality of the world and the simplicity of the mathematics we use to describe it.  What I mean is that students will see how linearity can be used to describe a system that doesn't actually have the exact same rate of change at every step along the way, but it might be the best option.

5.  Write and mail notes to my students
This year in order to boost student relationships, I want to send a note home to each of my future students prior to school starting (actually prior to the open house).  I just want to say "Hey, I'm looking forward to having you in class!"  I'm hoping that this will also help students I will be having for a second time start with a clean slate.

Well it looks like I better get to work!  Well, at least I have a month still :)
-Kathryn