Why You Should Feel PUMPED About a New School Year

While parents are clamoring away, eager to get their children back into the whole school routine, many educators don't feel ready. On the other hand, this teacher feels super pumped about starting a new school year. Is she mad? Has she lost her mind? What's wrong with this woman? Well, my friends, I am crazy. Crazy excited about the opportunity to begin again with a fresh batch of students. Yes, I'm insanely thrilled at the prospect of trying new things out, experimenting with teaching techniques, grouping structures, and classroom set-ups. So, I'm going to tell you why you should be pumped about this new school year!

5 Reasons to Feel PUMPED About This New School Year

• Sometimes, you just need a mulligan. As a reflective teacher, I recognize that while I made it through last school year and pushed hard, I could do so much better. Guess what? I get the opportunity to do it over and get it right. And I am so ready!

• Did you read this summer? I did. I read lots of stuff. Maybe you're not in grad school or taking any professional development, but if you still have time, definitely check out some more Educator's Room articles. After learning new techniques from what I've read, I feel inspired. You can read articles or great books like Waiting for Superman or Readicide or The Secrets of Timeless Teachers.   I can list miles of fabulous, inspiring books. They help me feel like I can conquer the world...or at least my part of it.

• It gets better every year. Unless you're in the wrong school or in the wrong field, teaching gets better each year as your hone your practice. I'm going into my tenth year of teaching, which is exciting because I can now celebrate a decade of teaching. And every year that I teach, I do it a little bit differently and it gets a little bit better. Just don't tell my first-year students how much better they'd have it with me now.

• The love of teaching is real. I love working with kids. I love watching them grow every year. And, yes, I love new challenges. Each student that I successfully convert to a math lover (or at least a math non-hater) feels glorious! By the end of my decade of teaching, I vow to reach every student in my classroom. Some say you can't reach them all. I say agree more with the "never say never" line of thinking.

• Real conversations with adults? Yes, please! I love my children, but as a teacher-mom, I spend a majority of my summer days alone with my children or at the pool with my children or at the store with my children or...well...you get the idea. Without my children with me, I can actually think well enough to carry on intelligent conversations with actual adults. Of course, I'm excited! Teachers make the most awesome company.

I hope I didn't oversell the idea that maybe, just maybe, going into a new school year should be celebrated. In truth, if you truly don't feel pumped about going into a new school year, I am excited enough for the both of us! I'm armed and ready with new ideas, new classroom management techniques, and new teaching methods, and I'm going to rock this year! I hope you feel the same way!