It's the most wonderful time of the year...

For many, the most wonderful time of the year comes when the weather begins to get blustery, the jingle of the Salvation Army bell begins to ring, parents continuously remind children, "Santa is watching", and our homes fill with the smells of family--dirty laundry, turkeys, Christmas cookies and pine needles.  I love the Holiday Season, too.  Stories of The Grinch & flying reindeer, the joy & merriment of the spirit of the people around you, wrapping paper and Christmas Carols give me warm fuzzy feelings, too.

However, I think the most wonderful time of the year begins a few months sooner.

Ah, the start of school.

For most people, the Holidays and New Year is a time of new beginnings, resolutions, a chance to start over.  For me, August has always been that time. Unlike people "in the real world" (that was sarcasm, yes), teachers get to update themselves every 9 months.  We get to start fresh--new students, new supplies, new ideas, new parents.  Whatever mistakes I made teaching, either in content or with handling situations, I get to make it up and try again.  Sure, most of us don't change completely, but we get to start fresh.  Most jobs don't have that luxury.  You screw up, you live with it until your next job.  Summer has a magical way of erasing not just the bad memories of the year--but the mistakes, too.  With new class rosters is your chance to change the things that didn't work out--and try something new.  Of course, unlike "desk jobs", there are significant challenges that are brought about...but that, to me, is part of the fun.  Learning what the challenges are--and facing them.

And then there are the school supplies.  Forget holiday shopping--put me in an isle of new notebooks, pencils, markers, note cards, hot glue, construction paper.  New school supplies are a high like I have never experienced.  (I should have known I was destined to be a teacher--I've always loved new school supplies!)  There is something almost orgasmic about the way a brand new Uni Ball pen feels on a new, never been written on Mead 5-Star notebook (and yes, brand does matter when it comes to school supplies!)

The greatest invention was tax-free weekend...it is merely an excuse to buy more school supplies than I need.

One of the greatest things about starting fresh is coming up with new ideas and tweaking old ideas so that fit in the context of a new one.  For example, this year, I am having a "Facebook" Theme.  Students will not only fill out their own status updates & profiles for themselves, but for the characters in the novels that we read, too.  I like to try to get students engaged by utilizing new and cool ideas from pop culture.  It is how I try to stay "hip".

No, teaching high school is not all presents on Christmas morning.  Most of the time, I feel stuck in the aftermath of the holidays--you know, where you are sluggish because of too much triptophan?  But every once in a while, students actually "get" it.  And when they do, to see that light bulb go off....well, it's like opening that one present you've wanted all year on Christmas morning over and over again.