Why I Feel Calm This School Year
Losing longtime teaching partners to retirement was harder than I expected. A reflection on rebuilding a team, and finding my groove again.
Went live again this week. Still figuring out the format — today it was successes, a reflection, and a few updates. No students yet, but the to-do list doesn't care about that.
A few things that went well: home room letters out to all 18 kids (22 last year — this'll feel different). Finally organized my Chrome bookmarks, which had been sitting on my list forever. And our middle school team had a real conversation about grading and what "habits of scholarship" actually look like.
Small celebrations. But I'm trying something new — relish the success. Own it. We're not great at that as teachers.
Then I gave myself a journal prompt: what's one thing about this August — not any August, this one — that feels different than last year?
I'm calmer this year.
When my longtime teaching partners retired, it was more challenging than I expected. They were mentors, kind of like mother hens honestly, and I leaned on them more than I realized until they were gone. Developing a new team takes time — everyone who's been through it knows that. Figuring out who does what, how to divide things up so it actually works. I can't believe how lucky I am to be paired up with two very qualified people. This is almost unheard of these days with teacher shortages.
This year, we're in a groove. We know what to do. I think that's where the calm is coming from — not that nothing hard happened, but that I got through it.
I survived a little hardship. And I'm coming out the other side.
That's your prompt too, if you want it: what's one thing about this exact point in your year that feels different than it did twelve months ago?
You've got time — sit with it.
A couple other things going on: we have a staff retreat tomorrow, we're heading out to a summer camp to work through grading stuff together. New podcast episode is up — Why Teachers Are Terrible at Celebrating (you know who you are). And the newsletter drops tomorrow, all about Ichigo Ichie — this exact group of kids, this exact class, only happens once.
Stay STRONG,
Jeremy
The full reflection — plus today's journal prompt read out loud — is on the channel. Come sit with it for ten minutes.
