Getting Excited for School!

I met with my coach today, and we talked through my literacy block, which I've been doing research trying to retool this year. We also scoped out the year and I am starting to get really excited! Last year was my first year teaching, and as I tell my husband all the time, I wish I could go apologize to my students because they deserved a better teacher than they got. I did my best and I worked my butt off (it REALLY drives me crazy when people are dismissive of the quantity and complexity of the work that goes into teaching! Especially when I'm working 80+ hours a week on a regular basis.) But a first-year teacher is a first-year teacher, and I have tried to just forgive myself and move on. I know this year won't be perfect, but I already have made so many changes and improvements to what I'm planning to do, I can already anticipate so much more sh#t that will inevitably happen, and even though from the sound of it, my kids will be a lot rougher at my new school, I feel much more ready to start this school year than last year.

One HUGE difference is in my level of organization. Confession: I am extremely disorganized. (As if you didn't know that already.) But fortunately I'm also a thoughtful student of my disorganization (along with lots of coaching from the very organized Sean), and in general, I find that disorganization is a reflection of my indecisiveness (which I also have in spades: two great qualities in a teacher, I know!) If I don't have a place for something, it just ends up sitting in a pile, or on a surface, and I tell myself I'll deal with it later. Which I don't. Because I can't, because I don't know what to do with it. Anyway, this year I have a lot better idea of what to do with all the STUFF, and I have a better idea of what kind of (and what quantity of) stuff will be generated, and I can develop a system and a routine prior to starting the year to deal with said stuff. I used to laugh all the time last year at how much time I spent over the summer prior to my first year of teaching, doing things that I thought constituted planning for the year. Oh lord.

So, the overall theme here, the difference from last year, is that I have a PLAN. I can't wait for September 4th!