As I sit on my overstuffed armchair, looking out the window, listening to Koda (my Chiweenie) and Sir Winston (the terrier I am watching for the weekend) bark at birds, in the back of my mind school creeps in. I have two classrooms to get ready, two schedules to create, and lists of activities to think about and implement.
Half of me wants to drive right over to my school and get to work, but the other half is saying, "Wait a minute! Think through this a moment... don't burn out because you have ten months to go!" It's always that way for me when August hits.
I want to revisit the books I was reading about Building Thinking Classrooms, Math Talk, and I know a new curriculum is coming for reading. This year will be stressful for many of my friends because of the new curriculum. It's always hard implementing something new when you have 25 kids sitting in front of you and you are learning as you go.
My job will be to learn the curriculum as well, because I will need to supplement and push and find holes in my students' learning that the content doesn't cover. In my current role as a SAGE teacher, or gifted support, we don't have the curriculum that everyone else does. This is a gift and a curse. We are always searching for amazing units to engage and challenge our learners, who need something different every year. It's wonderful because I can meet my students' interests, needs, and exact learning right where they are. It's a curse because I am always needing to research, learn, hunt, and find new resources. In the long run, I enjoy that hunt so the roll serves me well.
I am feeling excited to see the kids again though. I like learning with them, hearing about their summers, experimenting with math and science, seeing coding projects, and reading books together. I am looking forward to our time together and collaborating again. Yes, the school year is around the corner, and now that I am refreshed a bit, we will tackle it together.
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