Closing Out Another Year

This is the last week of school for students in our district with three workdays for teachers following. As I get ready to pack up my school-based office for the summer and get ready to head to Central office, I have some mixed feelings. At this time of year, I miss my fourth grade teaching colleagues more than ever. We always planned some cool units and exciting events to send our students off for the summer. It makes me laugh to think of some if the crazy activities we enjoyed. Time goes so quickly and it hard to believe but my last group of fourth grade students will be graduating high school at this end of this week. To each and every one of them, I wish great things as they embark on the next journey in their lives.

On the other hand, I can't believe the school year is ending already. It just seems like a few weeks ago that we launched into another year of our District SMART Board Initiative and introduced Google Docs to our teachers. I guess a part of that is because I was out of my schools for several months. I was put on light duty (aka desk duty) when I lost my voice.  During those five months, I learned to depend on others for things that I usually did myself (making appointments, keeping up with friends and family, doing my own presentations and staff development sessions, even ordering in a restaurant). You don't realize how much you depend on your voice until you lose it. I was scared (what if my voice doesn't come back? How will surgery help me? Will this happen again?) and felt isolated a lot of the time. Fortunately, I have an amazing husband as well as some awesome colleagues who took over at my schools. You can't imagine the thrill when my voice started returning (without surgery) and is now back to normal. I am so thankful to God for answered prayers!

The teachers and principals at my schools welcomed me back with open arms and admonitions to take care of myself. Several have started talking about plans for next year and I must say I am excited about some of things that want to happen in their schools. I have some planning to do during the summer!

Speaking of summer, it looks like a busy one! We have Pinnacle, SMART Lesson Camps, technology integration for elementary lessons, Teaching & Learning Conference, and more already creeping onto our to-do list and calendars. Not to mention, the summer honored tradition of educators everywhere...making stuff for next school year.

So as I store the last of my office possessions so the office floor can be waxed, I want to wish each of you a blessed, restful, and productive summer!