The Pull of the Classroom
Posted by Amy Erickson on 05 Jun 2009 | Posted in: Inspiration and Motivation, Life After School, Planning and Curriculum, Teachers and Teaching, The Mailbox Books
For a teacher, there’s nothing quite like the end of the school year. It’s busy, tiring, fun, gratifying; the list goes on and on. For me, it was a time of conflicting emotions. I found it hard to say goodbye to my students, but I also looked forward to having time off. I longed to spend lazy mornings at my favorite summertime destination, Two Lights State Park in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. It’s such an incredibly peaceful spot! But a funny thing always happened soon after vacation started: I would start getting excited about the next school year.
Somehow or another my mind would wander to the topic of school, and I’d start thinking about revamping part of my classroom routine or trying something new for literacy or math. Once I started thinking about it, the
ideas would keep coming and the anticipation would build. It sounds crazy, I know, especially since I so looked forward to rest and relaxation in the summer. But that’s what happened, year after year. It was even harder to “turn off” the ideas during the summers before I changed teaching positions or classrooms.
How about you? In the midst of the summer, do your thoughts stray back to your classroom and next year? Or are you able to put those thoughts on hold until just before back-to-school?
Congratulations to Lynn of Dayton, Ohio. She is the winner of the Grades 4–5 Building Math Basics book in our weekly blog drawing.
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31 Responses to “The Pull of the Classroom”
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More Comments Pages: [1] 2 3 » Show All Comments
I am so glad to know I am not the only one has this excitement or passion for our jobs. I am not the only one that “rests” while making things and gathering ideas for the next group of students that will enter in September. I try to limit my “school time” during the summer to a couple of hours but enjoy my time off working at a very leisurely pace and being a bit productive at the same time. Summer is when I catch up on all friendships and establish new ones!
I always cry each year either when the buses pull out or when I finally get my room checked out and I am on my way home. It is amazing to think of all that has occurred in one school year and sad that my school family has disbanded. I miss my school kids. I wait for the school supply sales. Even my daughter is trained to stand in line buying multiple school supplies so my school kids will have what they need!
I retired June 2007 after 34 years of teaching elementary special education. During those 34 years my summer was always filled with family activities and thinking about and working towards the next school year. I was a teacherholic. School was always on my mind. There was no turning it off. I loved it and was always looking for new and different things to try and make my classroom better than before. I didn’t teach the next year but still had school thoughts and saved things for when I would teach again (even if it was just grandkids). Last year I started some part time teaching in a Christian school. This next year I am going to teach 3rd grade in that Christian school and I am so excited. I’ve been thinking and working on several ideas and can hardly wait to get back in the trenches!
I always get excited for the summer because then I can attend professional seminars geared towards reading and writing that will spark great ideas for exceptional lessons the following school year! However, I have been out of school a week and I already have a ton of ideas that I would like to do with my students for next year!
I teach third grade and have for 15 years. My teacher companions put our heads together and choose a theme for the next new year. I find myself getting excited when I find unique items that will fit with the new theme. We contact each other over the summer to check up on each other and items that have been located for the new theme. I find this very exciting and I enjoy it each year. I am always excited to get my new Mailbox magazines to see what they have to offer each year also.
This completes my second year as a teacher after being an teacher’s assistant for 16 years. I am constantly thinking of teaching. I began thinking of the next school year before this school year was over. Since I’ve started summer vacation I set aside at least 30 minutes every other day to plan, write, create or just meditate on how I will improve my class and my lessons for next year. I just can’t seem to get teaching off my mind.
This is my first year teaching and I am loving my new career. My school year ends this Tuesday and I am already thinking of next year. I have transformed my pantry into a storage area for all my supplies and I am thinking of ways to challenge my class next year. I have young children of my own so I have my own little class to test out new ideas!
Every summer while on vacation I also start to think about the new year and the things I want to do with my class. By th time school gets started I am so excited I can hardly wait.
I work on a year round school schedule. There is only a week in between one class and the next, so it is very hard to have that time to rest! With three months on and one month off, I have really had to force myself to turn off that “teacher mode!” I was just off track in May and I already started to think of the changes and adjustments I wanted to make for the new class! I think for most, teaching isn’t a job, but a way of life, so turning off the “teacher mode” can be challenging!~
My kindergarten school year ended on Thursday but it goes straight into a summer camp program with all of my children in addition to some older kids. Even though we had graduation I will not have to say goodbye to my children for a few more months. I’m going to try and spend the rest of this month focusing on Summer Camp and then it will be back to Kindergarten although mid year I started making a list of changes I will be making this coming year.
this is the first blog where i have read so many comments!`pre school isn’t done till the end of the month but i am already thinking about what i could change for next year.teaching in a european country ,english isn’t always the child’s first language so all that affects how i will set things up.i am also waiting for a new helper ,which will also play a role on how i will cover things…and yes i am already planning.the first thing on the agenda is to clean out my closet both at school and home. re organizing always gives me a fresh start!
Your blog sounds just like me. I am already thinking about schedules and how we can do it better. I love resting, but I also love the time to create and put ideas into motion.
I just finished sketching my classroom and all of the changes I will be making! I can’t wait to revamp my room and implement all of the new ideas I’ve learned from various workshops this summer. I am also co-hosting a teacher craft party this summer for all of my teaching friends. We are going to discuss and create lots of things for our rooms next year.