If the road to blogging is paved with good intentions, then my road to posting my first blog is certainly well paved. I have been intending to blog for months…. Almost a year- but who’s counting?

I actually intended to post this during the last week of school. And then it was the week after. So. Many. Intentions. But enough is enough and here we are- you reading my first blog post and me most likely re-reading a million times after I published it and being far too critical.

So, I guess it is on with the show…………..

I love the end of the school year. There are of course the obvious reasons that you may expect- summer is on the horizon. However, I run our summer program so my actual summer does not start until July 25th. As much as I am looking forward to longer days, warm runs by the lake, and treks to cottages on the weekends this is not my main reasoning behind why I love the end of the year.

The reasons have to do with the students I teach and interact with and the faculty I work with. I love seeing my students come to the end of the year and have those moments where they realize how far they have come. In the grade I teach, Grade 8, there are students have had literally started to mature and grow up over the course of a few months. They look back at their school photo taken in the fall and giggle and joke about their “baby faces”. The boys tease each other about how many inches there are between the bottom hem of their pants and their shoes, all the while complaining that their moms are not going to buy them new uniforms until next year.

But then the reflection switches to their academic growth and this is where the end of the year just turns into magic for me. I have them look at their very first piece of writing they did in September. A standard five-paragraph essay connected to a historical topic. They go through rounds of feedback, they submit drafts….. It takes them a while to write this essay. And even with the feedback loops that are built in, the end result for some is not what they wanted. I then have them look at their latest writing piece. They look at the two side by side and can’t believe it. The comment on how clear their thesis is, how much more detail they have. Exclamations of “I can’t believe I thought this was good!” bounce off the walls and into the hallway. At this moment, they are all so proud as they realize their work has paid off. They are better than they were.

The day comes of course where the students are done and leave one grade behind, excited and anxious about what the next one will bring. In the falling dust of their departure, faculty come together for a week of reflection and planning and this is the second reason why I love the end of the year. In no other profession is there an opportunity to wipe the slate clean and start again with nothing but wide open possibilities before you. If something was tried and failed- no problem! That teacher can make tweaks, make improvements and try again. Teachers get new courses and new grades to teach and set their passion into action as they prep their classroom or meet with new teaching partners. Because each year educators have the rarest of opportunities to reinvent themselves and their practice at the end of the year for me is not just about something ending. It is about the possibilities of everything that is to come.

So happy summer everyone! May you re-charge and look forward to reinventing!