It's that time of year again...

T-1 days until school officially starts. And once again I’ve a mix of feelings. These feelings include:

• excitement
• devastation
• creativity
• disappointment
• energetic
• exhausted
• thinking, “yeah, I’m the best teacher ever!”
• thinking, “holy crap, how did I ever get hired to teach children?”

I don’t know why the looming thought of the beginning of the year causes so much doubt and despair, but it always does. I never feel prepared. I never feel adequate. I never feel like I want to get to know 130 new thirteen year olds, even though I said that at the beginning of last year and I ended up loving those kids so freaking much.

Summer was just too fast this year. I worked too hard to really enjoy it. And even though all that hard work is paying off now (I actually feel like I’ve got a real handle on these Common Core math standards now), man, it just feels so daunting.

All right. It’s time to man up. I’ve got some more wall decorations to cut out.