Author: Dawn Mitchell
Happy Friday Everyone!
Congratulations on finishing your first full week of school with your students!
If you feel like you’ve run a marathon or lived a lifetime in these last five days, you are not alone.
I know it has been a whirlwind of late nights preparing and early mornings getting ready for each day, tons of to do lists, positive reinforcement with procedures, procedures, procedures, conversations with colleagues, emails to parents, and most of all doing your very best to make every moment with your students matter.
If you are exhausted at the end of today because you have given it all you’ve got, you are doing it right.
It is in these first few weeks that you build a lasting foundation for learning, teaching, and leading throughout this first semester together. The building phase takes time and thought and continuous effort and reinforcement.
The good news is in time you will look up as you are teaching and will realize that all the things that took so much at the beginning have become second nature for you and your students. You will have found your routine and will have set a steady pace. You will have created a classroom climate and culture that feels like a community.
My sister in law, Rachel Johnson is a long distance runner and when she and I were working up towards our first half marathon together she had a motto that really resonated with me. When I would complain about being tired she would say with a smile “We don’t quit when we are tired, we quit when we are done.”
While we are a long way from finishing this year, we can certainly celebrate our mile markers along the way. Congratulations! You finished this first week! Thank you for finishing strong and for giving your students your best!
Sincerely,
Dawn J. Mitchell,
President, SCASCD