Five for Friday: Beginning of School

It's FRIDAY! I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs for their weekly linky Five for Friday!

5 Things I Forgot About the Beginning of School

I know. . .  it’s shocking to me too that I could still forget things about the beginning of the school year when I have been teaching for well over a decade, but I did.  Some things seem to have slipped my mind.  It seems that I have had that, “Oh yeah….”moment quite a few times this week as my school year has gotten into full swing.

How Physically Exhausting The Beginning of School Is

Wow!  I am tired…more like exhausted and weary.  That is no joke, my friends.  Worn out.  Kaput.  I expire these days at 9:30 pm or maybe, if I have a little sugar in my blood stream, 10:00 pm.  Don’t bother texting or calling or looking for me on Facebook.  I will be surfing the sleeping waves not the internet.  Not only am I drained, but my feet ache, my head hurts, and my back literally cries at night.  It’s sad folks, and I am not that old. 

How Mentally Exhausting The Beginning of School Is

Teaching is mentally hard.  We have to think quickly and solve problems on the fly.  We have to be able to juggle about 100 things in the air at a time.  We have to know that Jimmy has asthma. Suzy has an IEP for reading but does great in math if you give her manipulatives and extra time.  John walks home with Jimmy only on Mondays when it doesn't rain because if it rains he is a car rider and his car rider number is 189.  And so on for each kiddo.  Some articles I have read say that teachers make around 1,500 decisions a day.  I think this is a low number on average and during the beginning of school, I think this number is WAY off.  When you have 22-25 little lovelies that you don’t know, you have to make a whole lot of decisions right quick.  My teacher friend put it this way: imagine inviting 22 eight year olds (you don't know) into your living room for 7 hours and only have 1 adult for supervision- YOU.  Yikes!  When you put it that way…..The first day of school gives “thinking on your feet” a whole new level of meaning.

How Much I Have to Do That Has Nothing to Do with Teaching My Students

Trainings, security briefings, more trainings, maybe some politics.  It is different for every district so I will leave it at that.  Enough said.

How Much I Have to Teach My Students Before I Can Really Teach My Students

I ended last year with such a great class of highly trained students that knew all of my rules and likes and dislikes.  And I knew them.  I knew their strengths and weakness, what we needed to work on and improve.  It was all smiles.  In comes August; a new batch of kiddos.  These students don’t know me, and I don’t know them.  I have no idea what they know or don’t know- what their strengths are or weaknesses are.  And guess what….they don’t know my RULES.  Being a good Harry Wong follower, I have to teach procedures.  Being a good Whole Brain teacher, I have to teach the rules and ways of the classroom.  Why does it surprise me every year when it takes sooooo long and is soooo laborious? It is time intensive work.  You have to go over it again and again.  Why do I forget that?

How Much I Missed the Kids

I work over the summer.  No, no, no, I don't get paid- not that kind of work.  I research, read, learn, blog, browse.  I never really give up teaching.  Ahh… but is a teacher really a teacher if there are no students?  There is just something about opening that classroom door and greeting those smiling faces at the beginning of school.  A world of possibilities, of hope.   Now how could I forget that?  This one thing that I forgot, the students, is what makes the other 4 things that I forgot worth bearing!