Am I the only educator who still gets the first day of school jitters? I mean I’m going into my 9th year of teaching and still find myself rather restless the night before and morning of the first day of school. If you have been in any form of education, you know the first day of school is always crazy and hectic. Between kids in the wrong classes, schedule changes, the requests to see their counselors because they aren’t in the lunch period they want with their friends, setting new norms, and honestly the excitement of seeing people friends, teachers and students who you haven’t seen all summer. It’s all just madness.
I think for me in particular, last year was such a different challenge. Even as I’m working on pursuing my administration license, I’m thinking about how managing a team of adults can be super challenging. The kids are easy to manage, you set expectations, you remain consistent and hold them accountable and eventually they all get on board. But the adults, whewwww, they can be a challenge. I suppose it’s because by the time you are in your 30’s or older, we tend to be set in our ways in most aspects. And if you have worked in education, you know nothing remains the same. Everyday there are changes and adjustments that need to be made and I can see how that can be hard to manage.
So I’m taking a huge breath and remembering my why. Why did I go into education in the first place? I went into education to help others. It’s just that simple. The ultimate goal is to help the kids have a better love and understanding for not just math but learning in general. So many kids struggle, for one reason or another, and I just want to be the one that makes it just a little easier. As a department lead, I get to do that not only for my students but for all students by working with teachers on their practices in doing the same. Fostering a love for learning. So in these moments of angst, I remind myself to take a breath and remember my why. THEY ARE MY WHY.
There are so many things that I want to change this year and some things I want to go back to. I’m sure those are the thoughts that are causing my mind to go into overdrive. However, I’m going to focus on my four words for this year: CONSISTENCY, INTENTION, ACCOUNTABILITY, AND PRAISE. I plan to be consistent and intentional in all that I do. Being sure that everything I do has a reason and works towards the end goal of helping my students foster a love(or even like) for learning. Holding everyone, including myself, accountable to continue to be student focused and meeting the expectations. Finally praise. I want to be intentional to give praise when praise is due. That is to my students and my team. Oftentimes we focus on the bad and who didn’t do this or that. This year I want to be intentional to focus on the good! Reminding myself to praise people when the expectations are met.
OK IM DONE RAMBLING. WISHING EVERYONE A SUCCESSFUL AND WONDERFUL YEAR <3