End of Year #2!

I can hardly believe it,  but my 2nd year of teaching has officially come to an end (a whole week later than originally planned, thanks to Mother Nature's gift of snow days...but hey, I really appreciated the break in January)! It is amazing to me how quickly time can fly in a school year. If you are a teacher and anything like me, you start out the year with such big ideas and high expectations, and then you get to September and realize that you are in over your head and you are just going to put the floaties on and see how long you can just bob along. Then, about November, you are really strung out and tired, and you just need a break. Christmas comes, and then you feel rejuvenated and ready to attack the 2nd half of the year with a new attitude. By the beginning of February, you are counting down until Spring Break, and once Spring Break hits, the year might as well be over, right? ;-) This train of thought is not exactly positive or professional, but it is a reality nonetheless.

My first year, I was just trying not to drown. I was trying to just make my kids like me and keep my job for the next year. The second year, I was consumed by my 2nd year teaching portfolio. I just wanted to get that sucker done, and THEN I could focus on teaching. We tested twice for ISTEP this year, and we really were bogged down by testing, reviewing, convos, snow days, etc. Somehow, the year ended, and I still have a list of things that I wanted to do.

Now what? Now, I think about next year! However, I don't want to get too far ahead of myself. I want to read books about teaching...I want to know what the experts say...and then I want to make a plan. Until then, I am going to smile as I think about the final days of school with my kids...we really had a great time, and I am always happy to end on a high note. Even though it rained on our last day, which happens to be field day, and even though we had to have 600 stinky kids in a steaming hot gym on the last day of school, it all worked out and we had fun!

Here's to another year behind me and another year ahead!