It had to happen, and it has. The first five week mark has fallen upon us, seemingly at unawares, and for most students the time of high anxiety hits. Grades are somewhat rough and limited arbiters of our success, no doubt, but they have their place in our industrialized, bench mark crazed world. Without benchmarks, I suppose, we wouldn't know where we stood in relation to others (is that really important?) in our class, in the county, in the state, and in the "newly flattened" world.

I'm not a huge fan of grades, but I'm enough of a systems thinker to acknowledge their importance to the overall school establishment. I don't think, in this over scrutinized environment, that they are the truly accurate reflectors of achievement, though.

So hold on for the ride. The five week reports are coming! Take a deep breath, buckle down, revise your writer's craft paper, and get ready for the next five weeks of pure, unadulterated fun.