Back to School

The good thing about being a teacher is the feeling that I'm starting a new job every fall. The bad thing about being a teacher is the feeling that I'm starting a new job every fall. 

Now that we're back from vacation and August is here, it's time to get serious about cleaning my classroom and organizing supplies for a new school year. Walking into the stuffy classroom with it so stark and bare is depressing. I look around the room trying to decide where to start. The bulletin boards seem like they've survived a war with a stapler; I pick the occasional stray shred of paper which stubbornly refuses to let go of last year's decor. The floors are freshly cleaned and the marker boards have been washed, but a thick layer of dust covers everything else. As I get my rags and fill a bucket at the sink, I wonder how many other professions have this much janitorial work hidden beneath their job descriptions.

I glance at the clock and think about the lazy habits I've picked up this summer. Lounging in the afternoons reading a book, then taking a nap has become part of my daily routine. Life has such a relaxed pace when I'm off for the summer. How will I get my rusty brain back in "teacher mode" and adjust to the hectic schedule of fall?

There are closets to reorganize and furniture to arrange before I can start putting up bulletin boards and preparing for my new class. As I work, I feel myself mentally preparing for the weeks to come. I think about the group of little people that I have yet to meet, but in a few weeks I will come to love and regard as "my kids". It's important to me to get my room just so... an organized space for me to teach in, and an inviting space for these new kiddos to begin their first grade year.

A few hours later, I've made a little progress "feathering my nest" but I have a long way to go before I'm ready to start the new year. As I clean and arrange, I realize that I'm actually mentally rehearsing the first few days of school, and feeling more prepared for the challenges ahead. Maybe the time I spend in my classroom, while the rest of the building is dark and quiet, is more valuable than I realize.