Teacher, are you ready?

“We are just coasting through this last week… I think we’re pretty summered out…”

Anyone else there? Anyone else feeling like those summer nights are starting to take a toll on your kiddo who seems to thrive on routine and structure? And that your summer of fun is starting to turn into meltdown city? No? Okay. Cool. Me neither.

But truly, I was having my every other day chat sesh with my sister the other day as one of my angels needed some extra “loving.” And after I patiently parented him, I muttered, “I think they’re ready to go back to school.”

And then I laughed because my sister, well, she’s a teacher. And I said, “Just what a teacher wants to hear, right?” and she said, “Yeah… tag. You’re it.”

If your kids are in a traditional schooling environment, they are probably about to head back to their regulary scheduled program. And if you have chosen public or private school, then perhaps by the end of the summer, you are in agreement that the summer was beautiful but also that you are excited and ready for another school year to begin for your kiddo. Another year of growth. Another year of socialization with classmates. Another year with new challenges and new opportunites.

But I can’t help but think, “…but what about the teachers?”

The teachers who, in reality get about two months of summer break… and even then, many are doing continuing ed hours or advancing their degree and their curriculum knowledge. 

The teachers who chose teaching because they wanted to make a difference but also have to deal with a fair amount of paperwork and red tape. Are they ready?

Are the teachers excited to head into another year with kids who have brain drain central and may not have picked up a pencil all summer lest they were using one to poke their brother?

Are they ready to take on the teenager who has recently known the freedom of their first summer without a sitter?

Are they exctied for the way that boys and girls smell when they come in from recess in August and they aren’t really at the age where they shower that regulary or remember to wear different clothes day after day?

Are they looking forward to the stories that the fifth grader tells about their time at summer camp?

Are they stoked for the times laughing in the teachers lounge over a quick bite at lunch with their colleagues who they’ve not hung with for a few months?

Are they anticipating the smell of fall and the sense of excitement from the kids over a new classroom to explore and new glue sticks to open?

Are teachers excited to take on afternoons with kids who start to zone out because they haven’t been sitting in a chair for hours on end during the summer months but instead, have been out enjoying the breeze as they roll down the hill on their bike?

Are teachers anticipating meeting a new huddle of kids that they don’t know and learning their names and their strengths and their quirks as they spend just as much time with these kiddos as the parents do?

Are the teachers thinking about what worked well last year, what didn’t, and what bulletin boards will stay, and which will go and tweaking up until the night before Open House?

Are teachers all ready to answer the whys and help with the imaginary boo boos and monitor cell phones and remember the medication needs of their students for another nine.five months?

Are they ready to change the world, one child at a time, by being a difference maker to each young mind they come into contact with?

Are teachers ready to tag in?

Of course they are. Because teachers are made to change lives. And to inspire minds. And to heal the boo boos. And deter kids from annoying behavior. And teach them to learn. (And to confiscate fidget spinners…) But also to become people. 

What about the teachers? Are they ready? You. Bet. Because even though the students take a break, a teacher is a teacher, all the year through.