And So It Begins Again...

The school year is about to start again, and I am...ambivalent. Or so I thought...

The school year, for me, is like a race that starts in August and ends, with me breathless, in May. I feel like I am running no holds barred for 10 months straight.

Just managing my own childrens' activities is a full-time job, most of which is spent in my Suburban, shuffling them from place to place. On top of that I am currently in school. (Really? What was I thinking??) And then we have preschool. Which, as I have been sitting down attending to the mile-long to-do list that accompanies starting a new school year, I have decided is just....wonderful.

As I wrote each of my incoming students a letter, welcoming them to my class, I wondered how they were feeling. Were they excited? Were they scared? Do they even know that school is starting? I found that I couldn't wait to get to know them, and fall in love with them.

As I guess maybe happens when you teach in the same place for awhile, I know the majority of my students already. And the ones that know me, know that they will be in my class. Over the summer months, that knowledge was dealt with by making plans with me ("I will always go potty on the toilet when I am in your class") or crying when they saw me, or simply pretending I wasn't there. A few were unsure ("You're not supposed to be my teacher, I only have Mrs. Drawert as a teacher"), and one future student simply denied it was happening ("I don't go to school").

I wonder how this incoming class will be...eager and ready to learn? Scared and weirded out? More than likely, a combination of both.

I can't wait!

(Note: All of the above conversations occurred during our Summer Camp Program.)





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