🚌 Back to School Night
Life in the final moments of summer.
A silent middle school hallway the day before students arrive. Red lockers stand vacant. Fresh beige carpet tiles and a new carpet smell give the hallway a facelift. Fresh bulletin boards with crisp paper wait like a frozen smile.
Teachers feverishly and frantically worked to finish their classrooms, updating signs and lesson plans for that first day. Well, the first student day. Teachers have already been there two days.
Parents aren't due for another hour, so everything seems calm. Despite two days of meetings, time without students still means it's technically summer vacation. Just a few last precious minutes!
Thankfully it's the open house format this year. Less confusing. More freedom for students and families to walk their schedules.
I frantically move about my classroom, making sure everything looks nice. Did I print my parent handout? Are my slides ready to play on loop? When do I change into a fresh shirt?
At least it's still summer.
I never feel "ready" when that first back to school email arrives. I never feel "ready" when I trudge into my clean classroom in July. I never feel "ready" when I greet my coworkers in early August. And I especially never feel "ready" when families arrive.
Then again, I wasn't "ready" when my son was born a week early. But some things you just roll with.
For me those last hours of summer vacation are the opposite frantic from the end of the school. From "the roar." As school ends, the gas tank has been empty for weeks and you continually dig deeper for energy that is not there. It's tiring at a spiritual level. But we've been there before.
When school ends you know the kids, you know how they act, and time ran its course. For nine months the calendar surged on a single-minded sprint. Everyone aged, even the teachers.
When school begins, you know nothing. Just names. Maybe reputations as rumors. You know neither the kids nor their behavior. You're rested, but you cannot predict the challenges.
Some years students ask whether teachers get nervous at school begins. Let me speak for myself: Yes.
At least we still have an hour before parents appear. One precious hour left of summer vacation. One precious hour to savor the moment and enjoy our peak rest and relaxation. One precious hour to –
Voices. Footsteps break the pristine summer silence of the hallway. A lock clicks and moments later a locker haphazardly squeaks open.
Wait! There's still an hour left of summer vacation! Early is good, but nobody shows up an hour before the play and expects to talk with the actors. I'm not ready. And I should probably change shirts yet!
For some reason I feel defensive and slightly angry. Frantic. My brain hurls itself in a feedback loop. Back to School Night starts in an hour. Why are they here? I’m not ready! I—
The voices move closer. They say the name of my classroom. I look around. Yep, that’s me.
I remember I printed my introduction letters after all. Yet despite all the new, I feel so unprepared. There’s still an hour left of summer vacation! Maybe I should bolt, vacation for one extra hour, and then come back. There’s still an hour left, there’s still—
Until there isn't.
Three knocks. A student and their family wanders in. In a split second my demeanor changes and a fresh smile flashes across my face. The family introduces themselves. Summer vacation ends.
I guess it's back to school.
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Back to school is always exciting -- so many possibilities. When I read the part about not knowing the new students it actually saddened me a bit. When I was teaching French in a small rural KY high school one of the best things was that "my" kids looped with me. They started with me as for French I and many were still with me 4 years later. We bonded, we belonged to each other in a very good way. They trusted me deeply as did their families. When I was a principal we started a program where teachers in math, science, English and social studies looped with their students for the first two year. We had introduced competency-based credits so as soon as they reached the necessary level of success for the course (an A or B), they began the next course. Bumps, yes, of course. Lessons for the adults learned along the way? Of course! As the teachers grew to realize, their commitment was not to their courses, to teach them as well as they could, but instead, their commitment changed to helping each individual student go as far as they possible could in the 2 years they were with them. I remember one of the teachers said near the end of the first year several students asked her if they could keep learning on their own over the summer (and yes, of course). You can imagine how different back to school nights and the first days of class are when you already know and care about your kids. I hope you have a great year and let your imagination open up to the idea of looping.