My favorite part of a new school year is that for a couple weeks, students constantly walk into the wrong classroom. They autopilot into the classroom of the year before. Most of the time they realize right away and make a sort of squeaky oops and leave as fast as possible. Others will make it fully into the classroom, pause to consider the fact that someone else is sitting in their desk, look puzzled, and ever so slowly back out through the door. It’s a nice visit from old friends.
It takes all of us a little while to adjust. Many of the teachers are of the opinion that the first Friday of the school year is probably the most painful of all the days in the year. The students have lost their endurance for sitting still, but much worse, we teachers and staff have lost our endurance for just about everything. Our throats are sore, our backs are sore, we look at fractions and suddenly forget everything we’ve ever taught. We miss our classes from the year before and we get bummed out when we see how much they’ve grown in just three months.
But all that being said, all those thank God it’s Fridays we’ve muttered today, it’s been a great week. Your students are full of joy and we are happy to have them. Take comfort that we’ve taken them back off your hands, and we will continue our work to love and teach them. I’m happy to be reporting to you all again.
Signing off, Schoolyard Eagle Eye