September Stinks…

There, We Said It! Somebody Had to…

Teachers everywhere are already tired.

Parents everywhere are already tired.

Students everywhere are already tired.

It’s been 1 month since we started school…ONE month.

But, we’re still going. We don’t give up. We don’t give in. We never, ever sit down. For if we do, we will crash or get sick…or both.

September as a teacher…

It’s like waking up one day and running a month long marathon.

It’s like getting engaged, planning a wedding and getting
married all within one month.

Sleep is a long lost friend and Non-Stop Work just handed us
the other half of their BFF necklace.

It’s exhausting. Exhausting.

But, you’re not alone. We’re all feeling it. The daily
grind. We are jumping through the hoops. We are attending data meetings. We are assessing to drive instruction. We are calling parent conferences before and after school. We are selling the standards. But above all the things that weigh us down, we remain passionate about one thing…The kids. We will go to the ends of the earth to protect them, teach them and instill a love for learning that will set them up to be lifelong learners. We
are, for lack of a better term, working our butts off! (No butts were actually
worked off through that statement…They are still there…And more out of shape than ever because
who has time to exercise right now!?!)

We all want our classrooms to get up and running smoothly.

Pay now or pay later, we always say.

This is what good teachers do…

But, at what cost?

We see teachers in tears, imploding under the pressures of
moving mountains without enough time or tools to teach and reach students.

We see parents in tears, imploding under the pressures of new
standards, higher accountability for their babies and the dreaded syndrome of too much homework.

We see kids in tears, too young to comprehend the “rigor” and “fidelity” we are being told to bestow upon them when all they want to do is play.

Is this how we develop a love for learning?

Is this how we set our students up for lifelong success?

Our text to world connections tell us no, unfortunately it is not.

Something has to give…Something has to give…

Our own families stare at us awkwardly on Sundays as we half listen
because our minds are wandering to such thoughts as,

What on earth am I going to
teach during guided reading?

How can I get them to stop picking their noses?

Maybe if I rearrange my entire classroom, that will help them focus.

We are lucky to stay awake past 9:00pm on a good Friday night. We
may get grumpy (our husbands made us add that)…We are tired. Just tired.

We take school work with us wherever we go.

Waiting 20 minutes for a
doctor’s appointment?

We can grade papers!

Sitting for a relaxing pedicure?

We can write lesson plans!

Waiting in the car to pick up kids from school?

We can cut
lamination!

Sounds all too familiar…But, this is the reality of many teachers’ lives.

A few years ago, we compared notes and decided it was
imperative to our sanity to just embrace the nuttiness that September bestows
upon us…For this is the path we have chosen. To teach…

Each year, we place the same sticky note to ourselves on our September calendar at home that
reads,

“September is crazy! You know this, but you forget…like child birth. Don’t plan anything…Don’t
do more than you can handle because school is nutty!”

True story…