I loved grad school, even though I am not an academic. I never had such intellectual fun, before or since. Weird thing, though -- I have always loved teaching history, even middle school history, but it's been rare that I've gotten to teach what my actual MA is in, e.g. American History (specifically, U. S. 19th c. Social and Labor history, with plenty of race and gender...). And this year, I am teaching 6th, 7th, and 8th grade history (also 6th, 7th, and 8th grade Languae Arts, Math, and Science, which... well, pretty head explody) and I HATE THE AMERICAN HISTORY part -- the 8th grade part. WHYYYYY??? (As my kids would type; they really love adding letters to the ends of words for emphasis. Any letters, not just silent vowels.)

I dislike the textbook, for one thing (though I am fond of the 6th and 7th grade versions -- TCI History Alive! for Ancient History and The Medieval World and Beyond)... the 8th grade one on US History "Through Industrialism" (which is already a really weird title for the first half of US History)... it's ungodly BORING. How can it be BORING??? But it is, and I DO NOT HAVE TIME to do creative lesson planning without it, this being the first time in years that I've done 8th grade US History. It's really depressing.

Okay, I've reeled off on a tangent.