Life as a teacher/coach for me is a bit hectic. I find myself fighting highs and lows of all sorts throughout the course of a school year and summer. Sure, summer is awesome. And time off for Spring Break and Christmas are pretty cool as well. However, I contend that the emotional despair I am forced to deal with every August as the new school year approaches may be worse than the time away from school is good. I know, I know. Those of you reading this who are non-educators are rolling your eyes. And I realize I should be thankful for the time off my job allows. But still, the return to school every August is like staring up the tallest mountain on God's green earth knowing that you have to climb that beast in the coming months. Not only that, but along your climb you will be forced to survive among some of the craziest predators this world has to offer (students and parents). I have determined that starting school is like running into a brick wall over and over again until the shock of the impact finally wears away. You go from floating in a pool on Wednesday afternoons in June to juggling 100 students needs and wants every single day in September. It's absolute craziness.
The silver lining that I must keep in mind is that eventually the trauma of a new school year dissipates. After you run into the brick wall of teaching enough times, you desensitize to the smell of teenagers and accept that you will have to repeat yourself no less than 20 times per day and get used to hearing 14 year olds try to read Shakespeare. You numb yourself to crazy parents and remind yourself that adolescents cannot be taken personally and remember how to eat lunch in 20 minutes and use the restroom in less than 2. And somewhere around November (or is it March?) you find yourself smiling at that really annoying kid in 6th period rather than wanting to curse at him and occasionally taking a deep breath instead of an anxious sigh when the first bell rings. I know that these things will happen. This is my fifth year of running into the brick wall and I have more confidence that the acceptance of impact will come sooner than later. Unfortunately though, I am currently rocking back and forth in the fetal position at the bottom of the education mountain and my eyesight is so cluttered with grades and textbooks and essays and and parent teacher conferences that I can't even see the summit.
When is Spring Break?
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