Count Down to Reboot

10 more days.

I love school, but this year, I am counting down.  It's painful to be in countdown mode.  It's not as fun, it's frustrating to know you still have more days.  It's disappointing to know you are counting down.  I hope that it doesn't show to my students as much as it feels as though it does.

This year has been a busy year.  Overload for a semester is painful.  No prep hours for the past 17 weeks.  Lots of at home work, extra early before and extra late after school work.  I'm just plain tired.

I am so ready for summer for a number of reasons.  I need a bit of a boost, so I'm going to write myself a list of things that summer will allow me to spend time on:

1.  My girls.  I am a teacher at a school, yes, but more importantly to me, I am a teacher at home to my two beautiful girls, ages 5 and almost 2.  We will get to spend all of June and July together, no daycare, no schedule, just fun.
2.  Gearing up for next year.  I have so many awesome ideas that I just need time to get them going:
new modeling projects for my college modeling class, new reflective assessments for my algebra classes, new course material to create for my basic modeling class, new course material for my advanced programming course, sprucing up the intro to programming curriculum.  Oh, I am so ready to have time to dedicate to these projects that are currently random post-it notes all over my desk and iPad.
3.  Grad school research.  That doesn't sound fun to everyone, I'm sure, but I am passionate about my research topic and what a great excuse to sit in the sun with my articles and laptop and get my learn on. Reading recent research and finding new ideas rejuvenates me.  I'm ready to be rejuvenated.
4.  New teachers.  We have a new teacher joining our department this year and I am so pumped to work with her and learn from her.  She's going to be full of energy and ideas and I cannot wait to feed off of that awesomeness.
5.  Regrouping.  I am ready to regroup.  I feel like a pretty lame teacher right now.  I know I can and will do better next year.  The cards are stacked against me right now, the biggest being time.  I just don't have the time I need to create and do the things I really want in my classroom right now.  It's so frustrating and I hate feeling mediocre (at best).  I have never felt so icky about my teaching as I do right now.  I feel like I am just in survival mode.  I am a 9th year teacher, survival mode should be a thing of the past.  But new classes and too many of them at once has put me here.  It's been a great challenge.  I have learned that I am excellent at time management and much more efficient than ever thought possible, but the time to create and be creative just aren't there.  I thrive off of trying new things, setting up great lessons, etc.  I am so pumped for summer to be able to regroup, remind myself what kind of a teacher I really am and gear up for next year.  Year 10.  It's going to be awesome.

Ahh, I feel better.  It surprises me every time I sit down to write a blog how much better I feel when it's done.  As a math teacher, I never realized how reflective I am.

Summer...here I come, be ready.

10 days of school left...watch out, I'm going to show you what's up.  10 days.  I can do this.