Students arrive tomorrow, and while it’s a “practice day”–freshmen and new students have an orientation day before the school is bursting with 1700 students–I’ve spent a lot of time today thinking about this school year and what I hope it brings.
As I implied in my previous post, I want so badly to not be overly stressed or exhausted this year. I want to enjoy my time with my students. I want to try to not be so wrapped up in sticking to a calendar that I ignore the smaller bits of learning that happen. I want to walk out of the building with a sense of peace, even when I have tons on my to-do list; when I get home, I don’t want to be enslaved to my to-do list.
Change is all around me. My tidying adventure continues–and it really is making a difference in how I feel when I walk through my door. I’m excited to continue, and to see how I might create a peaceful place to retreat after a long day at school.
I’m working on a website redesign–I hope by the fall to have combined this blog and my teacher blog into one. And I need some kind of regular blogging schedule–I’m tossing around a couple of different ideas in my brain, trying to find something that sticks.
If I want to meet my goal of reading 40 books this year, I have 25 to read. I’m not sure that’s possible, but I’m going to try. Trying means changing my after school TV habit to less TV and more books.
And speaking of books, mine will be released this fall. As soon as I get the okay from the boss, I’ll post all kinds of information about it. But that’s a major change, as my life will be on display for tens of readers to scrutinize and judge me.
Early in my career, sleep on the night before school started was impossible. I worried about the size of my classes, about the different learning abilities of my students, about whether I could actually make sure they were learning, about whether I was too sarcastic . . . the list was endless.
This year, on the night before school starts, I’m thinking less about that endless list of worries and more about how maybe if I’m kinder to myself outside the school day, my students just might benefit from a happier teacher.
I kinda like that shift in how I feel the night before school starts.
