Regeneration

In about 10 hours, I'll meet with students for the first time this school year. (So I should probably get to bed.)

I've been thinking about the beginning of this new school year the last week or two, and as always, I have mixed feelings about it. While it's a little sad to say goodbye to the summer, particularly one as nice as this one, the last few days have been rainy and felt more like fall, and it feels like we should be getting back at it.

My daughter's excited about coming to my school this year, although she's leaving behind all her close friends from her previous school to do so. I'm looking forward to our daily commutes together; no doubt we'll have lots of time to discuss all manner of things as the weeks and months pass. I suspect we'll also argue about radio station choices quite a bit...

The summer is quite long, but I think it's necessary. Not for the "school is such a grind we need a longer break" excuse so much as I think it needs to be clearly separated by time from the year that's ended--we need to make a clear break from what came before and feel that what lies ahead is something new, something fraught with possibility.

In much the same way as the winter is needed for fruit trees to lie dormant and then blossom to life once more, so we need to empty the school and leave it to the custodians and tradespeople so that we can return to someplace clean, perhaps painted or renovated, and ready to be filled with the expectancy the new school year brings.

We turn over at least 25% of our population each year as well. As wonderful as any departing grad class may be, after four years we've all gotten a little too used to each other, and they've outgrown what we have to offer, and all of our particular idiosyncrasies--theirs and ours--have begun to wear thin. The incoming kids will bring their own challenges, but at least some will be new challenges.

No matter how many first days of school one experiences, you can't help but pick up some of the nervous energy and excitement that fill the halls as the new grade 9s try to muster a confident swagger and eagerly clump together for encouragement, talking a little too loudly as they pretend they know where they're going.

The new grade 12s take a little while to settle into the rarefied air of senior status, and at first wander about as if looking for the big kids who ran the show a few months before. The senior hangouts gradually become less empty, as one by one they dare claim these spaces as their own. In a few weeks, though, they'll wear the mantle of their seniority more comfortably, and the memory of another departed grad class will gradually fade.

There will be all sorts of resolutions--the best lesson plans and most innovative units are often those written for the first few weeks of school. Once routine is established, and any number of unexpected demands steal focus, we will succumb, to varying degrees, to the temptation of the familiar, the safe.

Still, there will be surprises. I hope, for all who read this and are facing their own new school years, that most are nice ones.