Year 8: Week 18 – Mid-Year

This was the first week back from Winter break. It was a short week, only three days, which was a little awkward but ending up being fine. Right before winter break my 3rd graders and my 5th graders had their big performance, and next week my 6th grade and 8th grade band have their concert. We decided to move the band concert until after break to get it out of the pool of events that gravitate towards Winter break. I like this idea, but it is kind of a weird mental juggling trick to have half my classes start new units while the other half are gearing up for their concert.

All of the things that I put off until “after winter break,” I can no longer put off. Grades and report writing in on the horizon, and the end of the year is beginning to take shape in my head. Believe it or not, discussions about things for the 2018-2019 school year are already starting to take shape.

The ability to exist in different stages in the different classes that I’m teaching and think about the past, present, and the future of the school is a challenge. It requires that you allow connections to form and see the trails of things that have been and the paths that lay before you. It’s a tricky balance between letting your brain focus on different points when its ready, and making your brain focus on pressing priorities.

Some timelines you can create on your own while others you simply need to go with. Like multiple lanes of traffic they move at different speeds, sometimes they slow down together to provide some calm, but more often than not they speed up together, requiring attention.

I’ve tried different ways of managing all of these tensions, and the best way to make it all work is frankly is to not limit the time I think about work to work hours. I’m all about a work/life balance, but the reality is that my brain isn’t always ready to write that email or to figure out that problem during the school day.  True innovation is pushing beyond what is and in my experience that means pushing beyond the given prep time, and letting work bleed into evenings and weekends. Most teachers have to do this to simply keep afloat, and sometimes it feels that way to me as well.

I’m looking forward to moving ahead with plans for the rest of the school year and doing the meaningful work of collaboration, that brings depth and resonance to the educational experience for me as a teacher, and for my students. There are challenges, and crises that will hit unexpected, but I’m confident that quality and professionalism in which we work through these issues will ensure our success.

Welcome to the mid-point of the school year. The light is only at the end of the tunnel if that’s where you look for it. If you look around, the light surrounds you in the spirit of the kids all the time. It’s the students who make the bitter cold not seems so bad.