We’ve all heard of the Sunday Scaries. if you haven’t it that anxiety you feel before you start your workweek, usually occurring on a Sunday but could theoretically be any day before your start work again after a break. That was in no way an official definition, just one I came up with. So we know Sunday Scaries are a thing, but I also think Summer Scaries are a thing for teachers too.
Our summer is only two months long. When you take into account cleaning out your classroom, organizing supplies, professional development, summer job, and worrying about your kids it's only a few weeks of time to yourself if you're lucky. Yes you read that right, we worry about our kids over the summer. We worry about the kids we had and the kids we will have. Will I have another Johnny who throws chairs across the room? Oh and how is Johnny doing? Is someone saying good morning to him and tucking him in at night or is he on his own? But worrying about our kids is a whole other blog post I'm not going to dive into right now.
I'm going to be honest. I've been nervous about this upcoming school year since I accepted the position in May. That's a long time to be nervous for. Now my nerves stem from a new school in an entirely new classroom environment that I've never handled on my own, yet (you see that growth mindset right there). I know I'm prepared, I just have to talk myself into it.
But that nerves isn't the same as the Summer Scaries. No, this is that feeling in your gut that settles in a few weeks before your first day where you start to freak out. You doubt your abilities, binge shop at Target and Ikea for new things that you don't really need, stress over organizing your lesson planner, and worry like crazy about the first day of school. This is where I'm at along with my fellow teachers that start school in the next few weeks (my northern friends you still got some time before this settles in but be prepared).
This feeling only multiplies until that first day of school. Now it's not this all crippling feeling even though at times any teacher can down a bottle of wine or a gallon if ice cream when it hits hard enough. No, instead it just pops in and out of our minds. They manifest in bouts of lamination, organization, and as mentioned above wine and ice cream. Sometimes it produces productivity and sometimes it produces an afternoon of binge watching the new season of Stranger Things.
So my fellow teachers, remember in these last few weeks of summer to care for yourself. Little Lily Lou isn't going to care if your classroom is perfect on day one. Johnny isn't going to care no many how many times you re-laminate his name tag - he'll find something wrong with it and throw a tantrum within the first hour in your room. What's going to happen is going to happen on day one no matter how much you prepare. Those kids that walk into your classroom need YOU more than anything. They don't need a fancy classroom bursting at the seems with decorations. Let them be a part of that process. Let your classroom evolve as your class evolves.
That first day of school, you might be the first friendly face they've seen since the last day of school. The first person that cares. The first person who will lead them to that hot meal. If you don't take of yourself these last few weeks they won't have that.
Photo by Nicole Honeywill on Unsplash
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