Let the games begin.

The mother of all Mondays....

Well, it's official. Summer is over. Not in the astronomical sense, but in the school starts tomorrow way.

For the first time in many years I'm actually nervous about it. It's been a long time since I've taught something that I wasn't confident about. In Jr. High I always taught PreAlgebra or Algebra, the last two years at the High School I taught computer classes (not part of NCLB), Psychology (also not part of NCLB), Algebra and the UBSCT* Prep class - which is basically all Algebra stuff. This year I have 1 semester of UBSCT* Prep, a semester of Psychology, an Algebra class and 2 Geometry classes. The last are the ones that are giving me the concerns. I've taught Geometry once, during my student teaching back in 1993. I spent a little time this summer going over the material and I know that I know it. The problem is, as any teacher can attest to, that knowing the material doesn't mean the students are going to understand your understanding of it. So I'm a little nervous. But not too nervous, because I know that it may take a few rounds with the material, but I'm pretty good at figuring out what works and what doesn't. So, I'll muddle through the first chapter or two, until my mojo gets going, and then I'll be fine. I hope. I think. I pray. No matter what it will be nice to have a little change from the same-old same-old Algebra that I've been teaching for the last 15 years. So to wrap it all up: Nervous - yes. Scared - nah. Optomistic - yuppers. Oh, and one of the nice things about the school I'm at - the biggest class I have right now has 25 students.

*UBSCT - Utah Basic Skills Competency Test. It's basically a graduation test that the state requires all students to take. Right now they can graduate whether they pass or not, but in the future they will not get a diploma if they do not pass the test. For now, if they don't pass they get "Did not pass UBSCT" stamped on their diploma. Kind of like back in the day when children born to unwed mothers had "BASTARD" stamped on their birth certificates.

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose..

Which is why it must come to an end. Even though I've been at the school on and off for the last couple weeks, I haven't yet HAD to go in. Alas, after tomorrow that all ends. Bright and early Tuesday morning the school year starts all over again. Well, not for the kids, they don't show up 'till the following Monday. I'm starting my 16th year of teaching, and the two times a year I realize how different this job is from anything else I've done is are the beginning and the end of school. Mainly because not many jobs have an actual ending every year. Accounting, sort of. The pizza business had it's seasons, so did the Chevron. But when you came back to work the next day, it was going to be pretty much the same as the day before. Even when I taught the same thing every year for 10 years, every August I start off with a whole new group of people to work with, and completely different mix of personalities. Yeah, there's always going to be the good kids, the bad kids, the funny ones and the ones that just blend into the flow of the classroom. But every year I have to discover which is which, who will be who and how I will have to deal with them. I still get nervous, wondering if this is going to be an easy year, or will I have a class that pushes the enevelope every day. Last year I was amazed at how much better the first semester was compared to the second half of the year. My 1st semester Psychology class was an incredible amount of fun, and I had some really "hard" kids in it. They talked a lot, voiced their opinions, sometimes loudly, all the time, but it was always about the subject we were discussing. Second semester Psychology was a struggle just to get them interested. I had 3 or 4 pockets of kids that were just too interested in talking about who was doing what with who and what they were going to be doing later that day. First semester was so engaged I never gave a test, we just did projects to show what they learned. Second semester I gave tests just so they would pay attention to the few who were willing to discuss the topics with me. It doesn't matter if you're teaching the same stuff, if you're engaging the class at all you're going to have a different experience every year. (Yes, I've known teachers that have had the same exact year over and over again. Which is why they really shouldn't have been teaching). I think that's what I like so much about teaching, the unpredictability. Meeting new people every year. Ending the year and being able to look back on it and reflect. Starting fresh every August, knowing that this year is going to be the perfect year. No mistakes, no losing my cool, no shoulda-woulda-coulda's. And knowing that no matter what goes wrong, I'll always have NEXT year as the perfect year.

Man, this was supposed to be a lament to the end of the school year, it almost sounds like I'm happy to be starting the new year. Ahhh, must be the little pill I took for my back pain. Good thing I'm not driving.....