Cyclical
I wrote a post a year ago today talking about the end of the school year and graduation. I can't believe a year has gone by that fast, and last night, I found myself once again chaperoning project graduation and thinking the same things I thought last year. I've said before that I love working in the education field because there are definite beginnings and endings to each year. There are certain feelings that go along with each part of each year, but the thing I love most is that you can measure each year for what it is. You can compare one year to another. Barring any unfortunate incidents in these next two weeks, I would have to say this has been my favorite year of the four years I've been at my school. This has also been the most challenging year.
I am the middle school guidance counselor at the school where I work. I also teach two upper school Psychology classes, so I feel like am very involved in both the upper and middle school. During the fall, I feel sharp and on top of everything. I am very energetic and this year was no different. The first three months of the year were very crisp and tight. I attended a coaching convention in St. Louis and my wife and I went to New York for five days in October. Basketball season started in October, as well, and I enjoyed this season more than the previous three. When Christmas arrived, I couldn't have asked for a better first semester.
The begninning of January is the second busiest time of the year for me. We register seventh and eighth grade students for tests and then give the tests and collect the tests and send them off and wait to get them back and then mail them out to the families. We also have the DUKE talent test for seventh grade students that takes place the third Saturday in January. We usually spend a week reviewing them for the test. January always flies by. This year my wife and I also had our first baby on January 22. On the 29th, we finished out our middle school season in a great way...you can read about it here. Three days later, our school lost one of its students. The year never really fell back into rythym after that. February and March sort of floated by while we tried to figure out what our new "normal" was going to be. In April, I helped chaperone our 8th grade trip to New York and for the last week and half, I've been doing make-up standardized tests.
Last Friday night our Upper School had its awards night. For two and a half hours, we listened to the achievements of our students. The list was quite impressive. At the end, we watched a photo slide show of the student who passed away in February. Had it only been three months since that had happened? It felt like three years. We had become used to our new normal and that's all you can really hope for, I guess. As a collective group, we had picked up the pieces and moved on as best we could. The slide show brought back a little of the feeling of those few days in February when I was exhausted from being a new father and exhausted from the emotion that pressed itself on the school for those few weeks after the accident. I think sometimes we need to be reminded of those times that push us or challenge us, so that they don't become silent pictures in our heads.
Each year brings its own events and personality, but the skeleton outline is always the same. It's always cyclical. I think that's why I like education so much...because I hate change. I love knowing what to expect each year, but also knowing that each year will bring its own challenges.
I am the middle school guidance counselor at the school where I work. I also teach two upper school Psychology classes, so I feel like am very involved in both the upper and middle school. During the fall, I feel sharp and on top of everything. I am very energetic and this year was no different. The first three months of the year were very crisp and tight. I attended a coaching convention in St. Louis and my wife and I went to New York for five days in October. Basketball season started in October, as well, and I enjoyed this season more than the previous three. When Christmas arrived, I couldn't have asked for a better first semester.
The begninning of January is the second busiest time of the year for me. We register seventh and eighth grade students for tests and then give the tests and collect the tests and send them off and wait to get them back and then mail them out to the families. We also have the DUKE talent test for seventh grade students that takes place the third Saturday in January. We usually spend a week reviewing them for the test. January always flies by. This year my wife and I also had our first baby on January 22. On the 29th, we finished out our middle school season in a great way...you can read about it here. Three days later, our school lost one of its students. The year never really fell back into rythym after that. February and March sort of floated by while we tried to figure out what our new "normal" was going to be. In April, I helped chaperone our 8th grade trip to New York and for the last week and half, I've been doing make-up standardized tests.
Last Friday night our Upper School had its awards night. For two and a half hours, we listened to the achievements of our students. The list was quite impressive. At the end, we watched a photo slide show of the student who passed away in February. Had it only been three months since that had happened? It felt like three years. We had become used to our new normal and that's all you can really hope for, I guess. As a collective group, we had picked up the pieces and moved on as best we could. The slide show brought back a little of the feeling of those few days in February when I was exhausted from being a new father and exhausted from the emotion that pressed itself on the school for those few weeks after the accident. I think sometimes we need to be reminded of those times that push us or challenge us, so that they don't become silent pictures in our heads.
Each year brings its own events and personality, but the skeleton outline is always the same. It's always cyclical. I think that's why I like education so much...because I hate change. I love knowing what to expect each year, but also knowing that each year will bring its own challenges.
posted by Gabe at 6:31 PM
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