I must admit, now that I am retired, those 3 words conjure up different emotions in me than it used to. As a gut reaction, when I heard the first back to school commercial, I froze! My heart rate increased, my stomach knotted, I started to sweat, and panicked thoughts of "NO!! Summer just started! I'm not ready yet!!" raced through my head. Then, I remembered that I'm not on summer vacation anymore - my schedule stays the same; no rushing to cram every last second into my summer; nothing to "get ready;"nothing will soon come to an end; no high-speed treadmill I will soon have to jump on. WHEW!!
However, I still think of September as a beginning. Like New Year's Day, I tend to think about goals. Of course, that is also an old habit, since all teachers need to submit goals for the year. But, those are now thought of in terms of academics. As a parent, I also had goals when the kids went back to school. Oh sure, I wanted my kids to progress academically. But, I also wanted my kids to grow in other ways, as well. I wanted to make sure they were continuing to progress toward independence. Above all, I wanted them to be good people - kind, compassionate, responsible, empathetic, and balanced adults. If they were successful in that, they would be happy.
As we begin the process of preparing ourselves for the beginning of another school year, I was wondering what your goals are. Now, I'm NOT talking academics. I'm talking about the other stuff that we as educators don't get to talk about as much anymore, and parents sometimes forget while making sure their homework gets done - those social/emotional goals we have for our students, our children, our grandchildren, and even ourselves. My goal is to focus on self-regulation; keeping things in balance in my life and in my emotions. I would probably have the same goal for my students, if I was teaching.
So, please let me know what you wish for yourself or your students this school year!
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