Counting Down

 Hi. I'm still here. I may not have posted in over a year, but I'm still here. I hope if you're a fellow educator who is reading this, you understand why I haven't put much energy into blogging over the past 18-ish months. I have half a dozen drafts started, but never finished them. Anything requiring school related brain activity outside of school has just been too much. Honestly, I hit a point last year where I was struggling with school related braining while IN school. 

I don't think last year needs any more recapping or analyzation than has already been done, so I'm going to try to start looking ahead and get something (even if it's going to be a rambling, semi-pointless, stream of consciousness, basically should be a first draft but I'm going to publish it anyway blog) posted to kickstart some writing again. 

We've hit that point in the summer where I realize the number of days I have left to do whatever I want (even if that whatever is nap sandwiched by little to nothing) is pretty much down to single digits. But that also means my days to get ready for school are also down to single digits. 

After getting excited and hopeful for last year, I'm trying hard to temper my expectations. I'm looking forward to starting the school year more "normal" than the last two years, but really embracing planning for the shorter term rather than longer. I've never been one to plan my programs for the year over the summer, but that strategy has served me well over the chaos of the last two years. What worked in the fall of 2019 would NOT have worked in the fall of 2021, no matter how much we tried to convince ourselves things were "normal."

COVID is still out there and making itself known. With no mitigation strategies being used, rising numbers, no more COVID days for teachers if we catch it, and many of us in the category of being too young for a second booster while we wait for the newest vaccine to come out, I have a lot of concerns for me, my daughter, and my students. I still haven't decided whether I want to mask or not until I'm able to get my next booster. It feels very much like The Borg right now (resistance is futile). But the number of music subs available is little to none and having to take five days or more off if I get sick is going to be...challenging.

There's also the adventure of my own daughter's school experiences. Last year posed some new issues that I'm hoping will be better this year. Being a teacher and working with your own kid's teachers can really be both a blessing and a curse. It's easy to connect with them and understand their motivations, but hard when you have major philosophically different ideas of school.

So there's my first (rambly and slightly disjointed) post in a loooong time. Here's hoping the new year has me (and all of us really) feeling energized and excited as we get started! Best wishes on the start of a new school year, everyone!