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The $20,000 Temptation One of the richest scenes in It’s a Wonderful Life is the meeting between George Bailey and Mr. Potter. Potter, the ruthless businessman who’s spent the entire movie trying to crush the Bailey Building & Loan, suddenly changes tactics. Instead of fighting George, he tries to buy him. He offers George a job with a salary of $20,000 a year.

There tends to be a couple different camps when it comes to competition. You have a few schools who like competing but are just in it for fun and a learning experience, and are excited when they win, but were ultimately just happy to be there. You have some schools who are competitive, but aren’t fully committed (this is where I’m at). And there’s some schools that run like a professional sports team. In case you haven’t heard - there’s no right or wrong way to be when it comes to competitions.

Oh the cliche ways I could write this post. My fingers almost instinctively went with “Here are some scary good content ideas for you.” I think I am going to shy away from those things for this one. I think you get that it’s Halloween and things like scary movie reviews, trick or treat taste tests, or costume guides are things you could do.

I was first made aware of Parkinson’s Law when Vicki Michaelis from the University Of Georgia were discussing why student packages are always turned in at the last minute. Michaelis said to me “ the work always fills the time.” Essentially if you have 8 hours to do a 2 hour project, it will take 8 hours… Conversely, if you have 2 hours to do 8 hours of work, it will take 2 hours. That’s not the part of Parkinson’s Law that I want to focus on though it could be pertinent.

September is the Tuesday of months when it comes to education. It’s not Monday (August) but it’s certainly too far from the Holidays to get excited. There are a couple of month long celebrations that you can work to create content with but the daily content this month is where the magic happens. There is such a wide variety of events. National Hispanic Heritage Month is a great way to fill a whole month with themed content. You can feature history, food, local culture and much more.

ADOBE PODCAST/ENHANCE SPEECH: All-in-One Sound Solution Okay – this one isn’t totally new either, but there was a fairly recent development I find super cool. For those not familiar, Adobe Podcast can literally make your not-great audio sound like studio quality. I was skeptical at first, but after using it in some freelance work, I was sold. The application uses AI to noise-reduce, run a compressor, and EQ your audio—all in one click.

8/1/25 Play Ball Day For many in the south, August 1st is the first day of school for their students. No better time to play ball. Do a man on the street and encourage students and staff to do the traditional “Play ball” to start the school year. 8/2/25 National Coloring Book Day There are many sites where you can create custom coloring pages. Create a custom coloring page, give it out to students and teachers, and later showcase their work on socials.

Our roster system also has indicators for disabilities, allergies, and other personal/family situations I might need to be aware of to do right by the kids. This is when I know which students already have portfolios to review, which helps with goal-setting, whether that means building on strengths or mitigating weaknesses. For 1st level students, I set up Google Drive portfolio folders.

StreamSemester.com “Register to Win” Contest Terms and Conditions NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A PURCHASE WILL NOT INCREASE YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING. 1. Sponsor This contest (“Contest”) is sponsored by Amitrace, in partnership with StreamSemester.com. 2. Eligibility The Contest is open only to legal residents of the United States who are at least 18 years of age at the time of entry.

Ikan provided tripods and teleprompters, Canon provided XA705 cameras, and Amitrace provided… me (for better or worse). Ross Video provided a Carbonite Black switcher and playback/recording workflow. For me, the best part of nationals is that I am not in charge. Matt Peschau from Ross is the technical chair so unlike my other obligations for this contest, I get to take a secondary role.