Most of us know there are two “New Year’s Days” in this country: January 1 and the first day of school. In North Carolina that is largely defined as the first Monday on or after August 25. So here we are.
There is a lot more preparation for the first day of school than there is for January 1. The latter only requires some special food and beverage purchases and making sure the television is working. The former requires new clothes; trips to the doctor, dentist and hairdresser (and for me, at least, the eye doctor); the trip to buy school supplies; the anticipation of “The Letter” that says who your teacher will be; worry about who will be in your classes (this works for both students and teachers, by the way); picking out the perfect outfit; and the inevitable jitters and sleeplessness.
And for me, having been born on August 24 (Never mind what year! We’ll likely get there before this ends.), this month is all the more reason to think of this time of year as the REAL beginning of a new year.
Tomorrow, students in most schools in the state (and most of the country, except for year-round schools, will be starting in the next couple of weeks) will begin a new school year. And for the first time since 1982, I will not be starting with them. And for only the fourth time in sixty years, since I started first grade! (I had a brief dalliance in research before I returned to what seems to be what I was born to do.)
Pretty stern-looking first grader, huh? Some would say I never got over that. I guess I do look sort of “school marm-ish” with my crisp white shirt and little bow tie!
I have been a student: eight years at Appalachian Elementary School; four years at Watauga High School; three years plus a summer and then a bonus two quarters at Appalachian State; a break and then nearly two years at North Carolina State. I haven’t been an “official” student since 1979, when I completed my Master’s degree, but I have been a learner both officially, in professional development sessions (almost endlessly, it seems) and simply in life.
I have been a teacher: 26 years in NC public schools grades 7-12 (mostly 12) often teaching either extra classes or extended day, and 13 years at the college level. All of these years were in North Carolina Schools. I taught in Wake, Watauga, Forysth, Stokes, and Hyde County public schools. My college experiences included Appalachian State, Winston-Salem State, and Forsyth Tech. Oh! And I worked several years with NC Virtual Public Schools as well.
(And let me say right here that my support of and belief in the public schools of NC– and mainly in the teachers and administrators who make them work– is unwavering. Is the system perfect? No. But does it work? Yes. Do teachers and students deserve better? Yes. Is the fault in the schools or the teachers themselves? No. No. No.)
I have been a facilitator of professional development for other teachers in several areas, including most notably technical math and integrated math, for more than 15 years.
And yet, tomorrow is the first day of school– the first day of the new year– and I am not going back to school! I’m not sure how to act, what to do. It will be interesting to see if I sleep tonight. I haven’t slept well on this night in all those years.
Walking out the door for my last first day, last year!
I think I’ll go walk around Salem Lake tomorrow morning, just because I can. But my heart will be at Ocracoke school, hearing all the excitement as kids roll in (literally– on their bikes!) for the first day. I’ll “hear” the announcements and the Pledge of Allegiance. I’ll “watch” as the students don’t push their chairs in when they leave the Commons, and Mr. Robertson and I will pick up a few left-behind pencils and shake our heads.
And then I will stop and eat lunch on the way home, wherever I want to. I will go to the bathroom whenever I please. If I want to text or make a call, I will. I won’t have to worry about whether I took attendance each period. Good Lord willing, I won’t be making lesson plans in my sleep. I won’t be wondering if there is a better way to explain the Pythagorean Theorem or the Quadratic Formula. I won’t be worried about papers that need to be graded or students who are falling behind. I also won’t be talking to young people about their summers. And I won’t be talking to colleagues about their summers and their plans for the year.. and yes, about the students!
But I will miss it. Oh, I will miss it. This is going to take some getting used to!
bethdlayton 