School....Really?

mI have been enjoying summer and now to my dismay, it is half over. I have spent the first half in ignorant bliss, forgetting that I have to actually teach children come August. I am spending the last half in panic. The school finally hired a teacher to job-share with me. I am relieved, but that has only added to my panic.

Think back to the days when the beginning of school was mixed with all the wonderful smells of new shoes, shopping for new clothes, the anticipation of a new teacher and the excitement of a new year. Now let me tell you about the beginning of school for a teacher. You don't go shoe shopping because you don't have the money for the shoes, you don't get new clothes because it doesn't matter what you wear so long as it can be washed, and the anticipation isn't about meeting one new person, but 30!

I have been doing pretty good at thinking I was organized and then the other night, I didn't sleep because I was listing things in my mind. When I awoke, I felt like I had done a days work. I sat down and began my many lists. To my dismay, nothing has been crossed off! I hate that! If lists aren't bad enough, I have first day of school nightmares, that most of you are in, and they all end in my getting yelled at by my own students. I have issues!

A wise teacher once told me that the years that went really well, were the years she had nightmares. The years that were sketchy, she had blissful sleep. If that is what I am to go by, this year will be AWESOME!