It's August 31 and that means the school year is approaching quickly. I went to school today to get my keys and see if I could start setting up my room (I couldn't). I have been working on mapping out the year and detailed planning for the first few weeks. I am excited and apprehensive and hopeful and all those standard new school year feelings.
In most ways I am sure that the new year will be better than last year. I have one full year under my belt and I can only be better the second time around - I will have a better idea of what to expect, I will get more sleep because I can reuse some of last year's plans, and I will just plain be more confident.
There is a lot that will be different, though, even though I have been lucky enough to be hired back at the same school teaching the same subject. One physics teacher's position was cut, which means I'll have about 30 kids per class instead of the average of about 20 from last year, so I'm a bit nervous about managing that many kids at a time, grading that much more work, and just plain physically fitting up to 32 kids into my room. My academy's principal, whom I really respected and liked overall, is out on medical leave and I'm not sure yet what I think of the stand-in, who has shifted from a position elsewhere in the school. And of my 3 closest teacher allies at school, only 1 was hired back for the upcoming year, so I will need to make some new friends.
As nervous as I am about the new year, I'm also really excited to get started. 8 more days until the students arrive!
