I sat in on my first meeting of the year yesterday, a brainstorming meeting meant to gather ideas for upcoming professional development opportunities to support writing. I walked away excited, which is easy to do in August, when ideas feel fresh and possible and the concerns I have feel relatively small and addressable.
We agreed, all five of us in attendance, that building enthusiasm for writing – creating a school culture that celebrates writing in a variety of ways – was our top priority. Not only would this help our students get more excited about writing, but it might help some of the staff as well. Writing, as it turns out, isn’t a favorite subject for everyone to teach, and even those of us who personally love to write can find teaching it to be difficult – we don’t personally relate to the lack of motivation, or we find the process easy and so we aren’t always looking out for the areas where students might struggle.
In addition to the meeting, I’ve finally gotten back in to my classroom. I don’t normally take such a long hiatus over the summer months, but traveling with my husband and seeing friends and family were the priorities this summer, and so it has only been the last few days that I have started tackling the lengthy back-to-school to-do list.
Even as daunting as that list feels, ranging from getting the classroom ready for Open House, to getting my first week lessons planned and materials gathered and even more importantly, looking at ways to improve my overall teaching methods in a few areas – and even with my husband’s terminal diagnosis weighing heavily on my heart and mind, it’s hard to not feel enthusiastic as we start another year.
Small tweaks in my classroom arrangement, adding yet another bookshelf to house and make easily accessible the new books I gathered last year, bringing in a fresh plant or two to replace the ones I killed by neglect over the summer, all these things get my juices flowing and my heart pumping. As with the writing meeting, everything feels fresh and possible and my concerns feel small and addressable. For now.
Deep down, I know that this year will be unlike any other for me, personally and professionally. I know that my husband’s health has to take top priority and I know that my need for extended time off is not a matter of if, but only when. But I also know that my administrative team and my colleagues are there to support me. I know that my principal has already lined up a great sub for me, who will jump in for the appointments we have now and will be ready to jump in fully when I need a long-term sub down the road. This doesn’t just ease my mind personally, the thought of keeping consistency and having a familiar person in my absence for my students eases my mind professionally. I don’t want this class to suffer from all that I am going through outside of school.
In the next few days, students will begin receiving their welcome letters announcing their classroom teacher for the year. I hope that each and every student who receives my letter will start to feel the same enthusiasm that I do for the upcoming year. Everything is possible. Our concerns are minor and we can handle them together. And for those students who don’t get enthusiastic about the idea of returning to school, I hope that I can change their attitude about learning within the first few moments of being together in this space. I hope to make all my students as enthusiastic about this year as I feel right now and I hope, when things feel impossible and concerns feel insurmountable, that I can find ways to restore my enthusiasm and to help my students feel the same.
Teaching at 3am 