Do I get a gold star?!

TWO. MORE. DAYS.

I will have made it through 4 years of teaching.

This year has been pretty interesting. I started off with a few goals for the first trimester- fairly large for me and requiring a lot of organization / preparation / lesson planning. I for the most part achieved my goals to the benefit of my curriculum and students. 2nd tri was a brand new experience, with the purchase, assembly, testing, and finally implementation of a brand new piece of technology- a 3D printer. STILL having fun with that one. Third tri was a blur of projects and activities but we made it through.

For me, it's kind of a crossroads. Mrs. Punch, my wonderful wife, graduated in January. A few weeks ago she officially was offered a job as a teacher starting this fall. While we will love the much needed extra income (remember, Idaho is still the second lowest paid state, and now we are BOTH teachers...) I'm hoping and planning that its MY turn to get some more education.

Here's the problem. What does someone like me, who has no desire to get a masters in administration, do!? I love working with my hands. I love showing others how to work with their hands and MAKE. I would love to make myself a better teacher but overall, I want to know more about the how, why and why-nots of making. There are so many things I want to try- blacksmithing, jewelry making, industrial design and all that goes with that, metallurgy seems fun, and anything that sucks fuel in, blows it up, and makes wheels spin is always at the top of my charts- the older the better.

Figure I've got a year to figure out the WHAT, then comes the how- how do I do that while hanging on to a job I love, how to do it from here in the place we love, how to make it work.

Just what I need, ANOTHER project.

In the meantime, a pic from today. Final shop cleanup. Spent all day doing this- felt like hearding 120 ducks from point A to point B, all the while trying to get them to leave a SMALLER mess behind...