August in Oklahoma can be miserably hot. But to me it is like Christmas and New Years. The first day back for teachers is like New Year’s Eve, making new year resolutions. Laying out your plan on how this is going to be a good year. You’re going to be at school early every morning. You’re going to greet your students at door with a smile everyday. You’re going to be organized. Lessons are going to be prepared a week ahead of time. Lastly, you’re going to eat healthy lunches. The professional development meetings pumping you up as the countdown begins for the ball to drop.

Preparing for the new year is like Christmas. When I was teaching getting my room ready was like putting up Christmas decorations. Shopping for school supplies was like buying Christmas gifts. Back to School night was like Christmas Eve. Former students stopping by and giving you hugs, visiting with people you haven’t seen in awhile, and catching up.

The first day of school is like Christmas Day. The excitement of meeting new students, new routine, new adventure. Then after everyone goes home you look around and say to yourself “it took me weeks to get ready for this day and now it looks like a tornado went through.

By the second week of school, you’re scarfing down a donut as you walk in five minutes late, new year resolutions forgotten. You sprint to your room because you didn’t write this week’s spelling words on the board. As you drop everything on your desk you remember the copies you were going to make after school on Friday. You put off because by the time you get to the workroom there were already five teachers waiting for the copier. You didn’t have time to wait because it was your son’s first game of the season. You decided to just wait and come in over the weekend. You didn’t come in over the weekend because your daughter brought a friend home for the weekend. They ended up taking possession of the washer and dryer allll weekend. By the time they left Sunday afternoon the pantry and refrigerator were empty and so was your wallet. As you grab the papers off your desk to run and make copies, a parent stops in asking why their child wasn’t chosen as Student of the Week, yet. Once you have patiently explained to the parent it is only the third week of school and there is still plenty of time for their “angel” to earn Student of the Week, students begin trailing in to the room. The parent leaves satisfied but not too happy. Now, Sydney is tapping you on your arm because she wants to tell you Taylor didn’t drink all of his milk. As your talking attendance, instead of saying here, Sydney tells you Brianna’s shoes are untied. That’s when you start counting the days until summer and you tell yourself, next year….

A couple weeks ago, my dad took me to the store so I could pick up a few things. I told him even though I haven’t taught in three years, I still get excited when I see the back-to-school aisle. He laughed and said “Well do you want to take a stroll down that aisle so you can get your ‘fix’ “. I said “no, I might relapse and fill my cart up with 10 cent pocket folders and 25 cent packages of pencils, and other stuff I have no need for.” Why is it when it comes to school supplies Teachers turn into an episode of hoarders? That’s a story for another day.

Until another day,

AC

P.S. I wrote this little story pre-COVID so no mention of masks, social distancing, or hand sanitizer is mentioned.