Promise and Possibility

"Education is not preparing for life;  Education is life itself"

- John Dewey

Today is Labour Day, the unofficial last day of summer.  Well, the official last day of summer freedom, at least.  Though summer as a season doesn't officially end for another three weeks or so, today is the last day children and teachers/school staff have to sleep in guilt-free, read for pleasure, bask in the sunshine without any reason for doing so.  Tomorrow, we will all wake up and be heading back to the grind of assignments, and tests, and deadlines.  

For me, back to school has always been a welcomed event.  I mean, I like summer.... I like being able to do what I want, when I want, at the pace I want, and if i don't get it done... well, oh well, there's always tomorrow.  But I function much better on a schedule, a regimen, STRUCTURE (Like you didn't see that coming ;) ).     I love being in a classroom, ever since my childhood (except grade 6, because Mrs. O'Neil seriously freaked me out.... just something I couldn't take about her fanning herself with her dress, or walking around in her bare feet).

I love the smell of new school supplies.  Binders, in particular.  Every fall, when I get my new day planner, it means the start of a new beginning, a whole new realm of possibility, a year of pages to fill with work and events that I will be able to look back on and say "I did that".  New pens, filled to the brim with ink, will write on these hopeful pages, so smooth and without splotches because they are so new.  Perfectly sharpened pencil crayons are ready for first day name card-making, and markers that   aren't dried out perform with a radiance that is impossible to achieve with them by the time June rolls around.  Brand new note books.  Perfectly edged erasers.  New backpacks.  Unsmelly lunch bags.  I'm getting high on this....

This year holds something new for me.  While I am starting the school year as an EA, like I have for the past three years (save for last year while I was at Brock), I am going to leave this role at the end of September and journey across the pond to the UK to begin my teaching career.  I am beside myself with excitement over this opportunity.  I want nothing more right now than to have my own classroom, to have my own class to empower and encourage, my own group of students to motivate to be the best they can possibly be.  I love being an EA so, so much, but teaching is absolutely my PASSION.  I cannot wait to plan lessons, to get kids thinking, to share in their success, to help them grow in through the challenges they face, and to inspire them to do the best they can do.  I desperately want to teach Kindergarten, grade one, or grade 2, AND Spec Ed (a class of students with  Autism would be a dream to me!).  I am beyond ready to venture away from what I know as home and build one of my own, create something for myself, and to learn even more about who I am.  

Today, I envy all those students who get to wake up tomorrow and sit in a classroom with a whole year of promise and possibility ahead of them.  But for me, my walk in the woods will provide just the right amount of quiet and tranquility for me to think about all that this year holds for me, as well.   

I absolutely cannot wait to get this year started.

xo

Christine