SUMMER IS OVER!
The alarm is set.
The clothes are clean and in the drier.
The car is aimed out the driveway and
the coffee is ready to go.
Tomorrow is the official first day of the new school year for all the teachers in my district. A week from tomorrow the students will join us.
Yeah!
(ugh, 6am is way too early)
G’head, hit “play”. You don’t have to watch it, read this post while it plays in the background. It’s just a little musical encouragement for those of us who are on a downhill slide to a new school year. (Yeah, I know. There’s at least one person likely to read this that is on her downhill slide towards summer. Don’t rub it in, we’re already jealous.)
The beginning of August marks the time when, psychologically, I start preparing for a new year. Even though I don’t need to be back for another 2 or 3 weeks, I’ll start dropping by, preparing my classroom, checking my mail, annoying the administration and making myself zen with the coming beginning. But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t use another month of summer.
Yes, I love my job, and on several levels I’m actually looking forward to the new school year. I have a great schedule (3 math in the morning, 3 keyboarding after lunch), I have a student teacher this year (all year) and just the excitement of meeting a couple hundred new people and getting to know them.
But … not working a second job this summer has been great. I’m going to miss sleeping in until, well, until I feel like getting out of bed. Having to look at the morning paper to tell what day it is. Being able to say “whenever is good for you” or “yeah, I’m free” when family or friends call to get together.
It’s the ying and yang that make teaching such a great job for me. I’d go crazy with this totally unstructured time if it was all I had. It’s nice for a while, but it will also be nice to have somewhere to go every day again.
As long as I can look forward to next summer.