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 have been out of school since the end of May. I began thinking of next year’s class before the year ended! Isn’t it funny how God fills us up with this passion for teaching? I have already been looking at ways to help my students with phonics and reading. I taught 2nd grade, and I hope to still have that grade next year too. I am planning to have a summer outing with the girls from my class because we had such a wonderful year!!!
I am a family child care provider so I work year round, but I love the summer with the break from my own college classes and other routines.
This past Thursday was our last day of school, although my preschool classes ended last week. I have been teaching preschool for 3 years and have absolutely LOVED it, but I am being moved to kindergarten for next year. I am very ambiguous about the move since I really enjoyed preschool, but I know kindergarten will be just as much fun. I am really thinking about how the transition will be and the things I will be teaching next year. There is a LOT of preparation! So, even though I have really looked forward to this summer break, kindergarten will be on my mind for most of the time. I want to be ready!
I have the new teacher summertime butterflies. I can’t wait to get into my room and throw all my ideas into place!
School just ended yesterday and I already miss my class. They were a very special group this year.
I am looking forward to spending a relaxing two week vacation with my husband and children at the beach along with taking some time for myself just to re-energize. After we get back home I will be excited to start preparing for next year.
I’m also signed up to take two summer workshops at our local University. I like keeping updated with whats new in education. It’s less stressful to take workshops etc in the summer.
I am in the 8 day count down and should be doing final report cards but what am I doing? Surfing the net and looking forward to a new school year. I have to get out of teacher mode when I am in public and resist the urge to tell children to “stop running” through the store or amusement parks! LOL! My husband is “well trained” and saves things at his office that he knows we could use in my 2nd grade classroom. It is part of my daily life being a teacher and I am always amazed that I can’t really flip that switch off. I can honestly say that maternity leave and a new baby was the only time in my life where that switch seemed to be almost completely off. I think it is your blood you are either a “Teacherholic” or you aren’t. I have 19 years in and joke about retiring but I can’t imagine that!
I find that the teacher mode never ends.
I enjoy the time off for the summer, but I’m always looking for new ideas for the coming year. This website is marked as a favorite and check it daily for items to buy and use. I just finished reading some books and am preparing for next years class. I love teaching!
Hello,
I am always missing my students, their characters, and their contribution to keeping my mind awake as I am in the summer holiday. So I always am eager to come up to the openning of classes again.
I know exactly what you mean! I also find it hard to say good-bye to students but long for the break and rest. I too find myself looking through teacher books and the ideas just flow into my head shortly after summer vacation begins. No matter how hard I try to take that much needed break, I always find myself thinking about school and the year ahead. I am changing schools for the next year and the wheels have be whirling in my head for how to arrange my new room.
I take a couple of weeks to relax and recuperate … take in a couple movies. Then, depending on my grade level assignment for the following year, I might start getting ready for the following year. I am changing grade levels this year (A 3rd/4th grade combo - which I could use suggestions on how to teach 2 grade levels/state standards/adoptions at the same time???) plus AZ changed the Math Standards, so I am starting to prepare already. It’s hard to wait until the last minute and then try to do all this preparation with the very little time we are given in the week before school starts.
How lucky of so many of you to be enjoying your summer break already! Here in British Columbia, Canad(yes, where next year’s Winter Olympics will be held!!) We are in session until June 26th. After 33+ years of teaching, I find even on vacation I am always on the look out for new ideas. I teach Gr. 5,6,7 French( and Primary PE and jobshare a Gr. 5/6 class—I wear many hats!!) so usually try to go to a refresher conversation or immersion camp for a few days or a week close to the end of the summer.