"The Force isn't real? How about 4 billion dollars?"

Hmm.  This bears thinking about.  First reaction: Good on him.  He sometimes does some surprisingly grand gestures with his oodles of dough.  Second thought: $4bn buys a lot of education reform, for good or ill.  And Edutopia is a solid resource for teachers looking for best practices.  It's big on (the right kind of) collaborative learning, game- and project-based learning, learning for everyone, and formative assessment.  So, despite the potential for an incestuous donation of $4bn from him to his own education organization, there are worse ways to make a big splashy gesture towards kids.

George Lucas will donate Disney $4 billion to education, HuffPo

Today's objective

If it's August 15, I must be scrambling to get the new school year ready.

Today's objective:  Review and revise beginning-of-year paperwork (syllabus, rules, procedures, etc.).  Look over Wong and Wong's "First Days of School" and Sprick's "Discipline in the Secondary Classroom" as a refresher.
Draft new paperwork: Portfolio sheet and 2-year topic outline.  (Notably for Spanish 1 and the middle schools.)  Review portfolio assessment from Edutopia, Curtain & Dahlberg's "Languages and Children," and Shrum & Glisan's "Teacher's Handbook."
Get all paperwork possible ready to print and copy when I go in to school tomorrow.
Any time left over should be spent reviewing new "Michigan Learns Online" materials and setting up online supplies through CLEAR.

All that should only take me, mmm, 16 hours or so.  I should be done in time to start tomorrow's to-do list.