This is the time of year when teachers reflect on their start of year goals. You have all seen the memes of teachers in August and teachers in May, and can completely agree with the feeling. In August we are refreshed, bright, shiny and full of new ideas, but by the end of the year you just start thinking, there is always next year.
At the end of 1st trimester I wrote 10 Confessions. Here are 10 more for the end of year teacher.
- I do not think my hair has seen a blow dryer or heat tool in the month May. As I sit here before school my hair is literally straight out of the shower, air dying. It is a rotation between wet braid, wet ponytail, or dry shampoo something. We can just pretend I am doing it for the health of my hair.
- This week my 2 year old had a full on morning meltdown not wanting to go to “school.” I almost joined him.
- When Spanish 3 & 4 suggested spending the end of the year watching and discussing El Internado, I was all for it. Sitting in the dark and not having a lot to prepare. Deal. (Final El Internado Exam Season 1 & Exam Seasons 1-2 & 1-3). This also applies to the exploratory class ending the year with El Libro de Vida.
- As a high school teacher, the idea of attending the ton of graduation parties every weekend in May is exhausting. If I can not attend them all, I often choose to attend none.
- The effort it takes to sit down and grade a stack of essays or exams requires: a tour around the school scavenging for food in the lounges, a trip to fill up your water bottle, an aimless walk to chat with your favorite teacher you share prep with, a trip to the bathroom since you drank the whole water bottle, a chat with you favorite office ladies, attempting to plan your entire next year’s curriculum, and the will power of super human strength to finally sit down with your pen. By the time you finally do, the bell rings 5 minutes later and your prep is over.
- My phrase of the week poster has literally not changed all year.
Semana 1 – nice job Sra. - Regular weekly procedures such as Para Empezar have lately only been showing up randomly by student request.
- This week I threw out two perfectly organized binders from my first year teaching, one sorted by grammar topic and the other by Avancemos textbook chapter. (Except you know I took the time to pull everything out of their perfect sheet protectors to reuse them, because #binderaddiction). Last year I posted about spring cleaning, but this time not just certain activities went, EVERYTHING did.
- This trimester I have a class with one student. Yesterday she was finished with her final project, since like a great student she worked on it at home. I gave her a few options, and she decided to help me organize, clean and pack up my storage cabinets.
- Even though I have been secretly counting down the days of school left, I am sad that I will not even return to school until November, since I will be on maternity leave with baby #2 the first day of school and will be on maternity leave. I know that one week into the summer I will be consumed with planning for next year. I will get giddy with the thought of back-to-school shopping, and spend countless hours this summer working to make next year the best year yet, because #weareteachers.
What are your end of year confessions?
Join the party, here are more confessions:
from Megan Sulewski
from Talia Block
from Maris Hawkins
Allison Wienhold of Mis Clases Locas has a decade of experience as a #deptof1 secondary Spanish teacher in Iowa. She enjoys creating curricula using novels, films, and music. Allison provides professional development to World Language teachers, including being the keynote speaker at MALT and Comprehensible Iowa, and workshop presenter at dozens of state & regional organizations, school districts, AEAs, and virtual conferences.
Unknown says
All year–all CAREER–confession? I don't think I actually used a hair dryer more than a few times a year until this semester. Also, I'm extremely grateful that the four-year-old tends to melt down before bedtime rather than before school. Also, I don't get invited to graduation parties 🙁
I will, however, be clearing out all of that grammary stuff I have in the shed from my first, oh, seven years teaching Spanish.
I guess I should be grateful for the graduation party invites, but since I moved schools this year I was invited to them at both schools, which is just overwhelming and makes me feel bad if I pick some over others.
Good luck with your grammary purge. It feels great!
Hello,
I am so impressed by your vulnerability and realness–it takes a lot of guts to put yourself out there, especially in a time of year when fatigue and self-questioning are prevalent. Congrats on the soon to be member of your family!
As far as throwing things out: Please don't forget our poor newbie colleagues–one person's trash is another's treasure–or at least I like to comfort myself and give away "hand me downs" to beginning teachers at a nearby university. I hope that the materials get new life, and it makes me feel less guilty. I tend to hold on to things because "I might need that someday" or "I might find a use for that someday." Letting go is a little easier if I think the item(s) might be helpful to a starting professional.
Wouldn't it be cool if there was some storage place in every state where teachers could put old stuff and newbies could "harvest" it, rather than throwing it out?
-Angela Gardner
Angela,
I agree! I wish there was somewhere to store things for newbies. As a department of 1 I do not have anyone in my building to pass things on to.
Thank you for reading!
Allison