Dear Jamie,
Congratulations, you finished the school year! This was quite the year! You had a baby in the fall, returned to work after Winter Break, and then it was a race to the finish line with the big fifth grade musical.
This year you felt more confident in your abilities as a teacher than you have in a long time. Before you had N, you worked hard to find a balance between time at work and at home. You stopped bringing work home most nights…that was tough but SO good for you! Now that N is here, it’s easier to walk away from work at the end of the day to go see that squishy face! This year you learned that there is no trophy for being the first or last car in the parking lot, and that you’re far more effective in your contracted free time when you know that you won’t stay too late.
You did a lot of great things this year. The fifth grade musical this year was one of the best ones you’ve produced yet. You reached students that you have struggled to get to know in years past. You implemented recorder centers this year, which freed you up to walk around and help the kids that were struggling. You and the kids both enjoyed the change of pace.
You had so much fun with those hundreds of kiddos! They left you the sweetest cards to welcome you back from maternity leave, and you really took the time to enjoy their company and stories. Those first grader stories are still ages long, and you have so much to get through, but it’s worth listening to. You really missed the excitement in their eyes when they tell you a story about how their friend of a friend that goes to a different school got a dog that they get to see in seven months.
You had so much fun, but it was also a challenging year. You had a hard time finding a long-term sub, so knowing what to plan and how in depth to plan everything was frustrating. Like most things do, it worked out just fine and you worried for nothing. One of your goals next year is going to have to be not worrying about things that aren’t in your control.
Another tough thing this year was saying goodbye to so many teachers that you’ve worked with and gotten close to over the years. You really made a lot of amazing friends this year, and it will be strange to not see their smiling faces in the hallways next year. They taught you so much about being a great teacher and you will continue to use the strategies you learned about conflict resolution, trying new things, and having fun with your students from them.
Pretty soon you’ll begin thinking about all the things you want to do in your classroom next year. The decorations, the concepts, the units…there’s always so much going through your head about what you want to improve on during the summer. Making those goals is a great idea- but don’t forget to keep things that worked well and celebrate the things you achieved. This summer, you have a thousand and one things you want to get done- but most of all, you want to spend time with that sweet baby that you do all of this hard work for. So slow down, dream about next year, but enjoy the summer. You earned it!
Time for you to reflect, too! Tell me what you accomplished this year! What is something you would tell your “beginning of the 2018-2019 year” self about this year?
