The Summer Reset Series Part 4: The Gentle Runway - Back On Your Terms

So you've heard me say that my friend Tamara says that summer does not have to end just because we go back to work, and I'm already channeling that because she's right.

Summer, actually, the season doesn't end until the third week of September, and the weather is so beautiful out, and hopefully it's still beautiful [laughs] where we live by that time.

But I know for me, when I was returning to the classroom, I like to ease back in.

And so just go in for a couple of hours one day and increase that time before we officially like to go back in.

I admire those people that wait until the actual scheduled contractual day that they have to be back.

And I have to say, Nicole, I've never been able to do that.

Or I wouldn't say been able to, but have never chosen to do it that way, but I sure admire the people that do.

But I like to just ease back in.

So when I think about easing back into this administration role, I feel like, yes, I have been in this role before, but I also have so much- ... to learn.

I was saying the other day, it feels like a homecoming, yet it feels like a brand-new landscape.

It's only been seven years, but we know the complexity of education has changed a lot in seven years.

So I feel like I have to mindfully go easy on myself as I transition back in, because I know some aspects of it for me are going to be super comfortable, and some parts of it are going to be like drinking through a fire hose, because I have a lot to learn in terms of the systems that have been put in place that didn't exist when I was there seven years ago.

And so I know for me, I will, and my admin partner and I have already talked about this, we will go in when we need to go back in, even a little bit before, just easing back in slowly, getting our groove, figuring things out one step at a time.

I also admire, and I truly do when I say that, like, I love when teachers tell me, "Oh, I don't go back until, like, the first day when our contractual hours start," which I think is amazing, and I need to pick their brain a bit more.

For me, I've always had a bit of a slow burn.

The problem is I don't know what the word slow means.

So when I go in, I'm there for eight hours the first day, and that's what I don't want to do this year.

So because I'm transitioning into a classroom role again and out of an interventionist role, I have a clean, blank slate right now in my classroom, so nothing is set up.

All of my items are at the school in a different location being stored, and then I have to move into the classroom, which I am going to do on more of a slow pace.

But the difference is I've never set up my classroom with somebody else.

I have always done it by myself.

I put music on, and I bring in my coffee and different snacks, and I just power through.

But this year, I am going to accept help.

I have been offered by so many of my teaching colleagues and my friends outside of teaching, and I'm gonna take them up on that.

I'm gonna find a way of connecting with them and inviting them in, and honestly, I think that they're gonna have some cool, unique ways of being able to help me guide how I can set up my classroom maybe a little bit differently than I'm used to even, and in a new classroom.