Yesterday I enjoyed a lovely lunch with some fabulous colleagues and friends. It is VERY close to the end of our school year. So close....I can almost taste it!
The end of the year is probably one of the most exhausting times for teachers. In elementary school, we go right to the bitter end...no exams or alternate schedules. We are busily trying to make sure we have covered our curriculum, completed projects, and accurately assessed each student in each area. Then we have to tackle writing the dreaded report cards. Our board adopted a new reporting system this year, which we are all still getting used to. One we have written our report cards, submitted them for review by our admin, and made any necessary corrections, we still have to print, file, stuff envelopes, and send them home (but not until the last day of school).
Then we still have our student work to compile and send home. In Kindergarten, I put together a large memory book / scrap book with work from throughout the year, along with photos and special mementos. Thank God for an amazing volunteer this year who really helped with those. Hours and hours of time, and a surreal amount of gluesticks later, they will be ready to send home.
We also have a number of special events in the last week of school. There are assemblies, presentations, parties, and our annual Sports Day, when teachers each run an activity station outside while the students travel around and have fun on the last day. For myself, I am editing a video of a school-wide music project to share at the final assembly, practicing with 2 different groups of students who are performing at one of the assemblies, planning the Kindergarten Year-End celebration (an assembly for parents to attend at which the students share poems and songs, etc), making a slideshow for Kindergarten, and preparing some special gifts to send home with my kids, parent volunteers, and Educational Assistant.
Whew. I'm tired just thinking of it all. And on top of that....many of us are moving classrooms this year. That involves a crazy amount of cleaning, purging, organizing, and obviously moving. My colleagues' plates are equally full.
Believe it or not, I do not say any of this to complain. Our school is no different than any other school....we are not any busier, nor are we working any harder than teachers anywhere else. This is just the life of a teacher at the end of the year...am I right? (Yes. Yes I am.)
I say all of this because I was very struck by part of the conversation with my friends and colleagues yesterday at lunch.
There we sat...tired, stressed out, and just totally done. We were so happy to have the chance to sit and enjoy a nice lunch together. We were all finished our report cards, and though we all had a thousand other things on our to-do lists, we all chose to spend some time relaxing and enjoying each other's company. I love these ladies, I really do. I'm not sure I would have made it through the last 9 years without incredible friends like these. Truly.
But the part of the conversation that leaves me inspired...well, it didn't even hit me until afterwards. Until this morning, actually.
I slept in a little today, because I could. I have lots to do today, but I know somehow it will get done. So I made a GIANT cup of coffee and some breakfast. I sat on my couch (which I vacuumed yesterday...yay me!), grabbed my laptop and started checking pinterest! As I was happily reading and pinning away, I had to grab my "Next Year" notebook to write down a couple more ideas.
Anyway, I realized how crazy it was that I have a half-filled notebook about next year, when I still have a week left of this year. Next year, people. I have a mountain of stuff to do, I have the whole summer ahead of me, and I have HALF A NOTEBOOK filled up with ideas for NEXT FREAKING YEAR. Am I nuts????
Then I thought about lunch yesterday. Inevitably, the conversation turned to the upcoming school year.
One by one, each of us expressed how excited we were about next year. Excited.
A few of us have big changes in our positions coming. We have had conversations and meetings about students who will be coming into our classes next year (some of whom are incredibly complex and challenging students). In the midst of our stress, our tiredness, and our overwhelming list of things to do in the next week...we are all just so excited.
It's easy to feel excited in the middle of the summer, when you are relaxing in the sun on a patio with a drink in your hand. It's easy to feel excited once you have had time to relax and recharge after the insanity of a school year.
But there we sat...right in the thick of the year-end madness. Exhausted and barely hanging on. And one by one our eyes lit up as we thought about the year ahead even though we aren't quite done this one.
It just makes me love what I do even more. It makes me respect my colleagues so much more. This is one of the many reasons I feel so incredibly blessed to be where I am, at an amazing school, working with such amazing people.
Now....it's time for me to tackle that to-do list. : )
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