Back to School

It's September and I've headed back to school for my sixth year of teaching. I'm teaching seventh and eight grade English and creative writing.

It's always rough, heading back to school after a long enjoyable summer. The daily, grinding of the academic machine is demanding.

I try to show my students some mercy by easing them into it. I also like to spend a little time building a classroom culture. I think it's important for students to know each others names. It's so easy for them to get lost in these huge schools with hundreds of kids dashing around the halls.

I forget how young and wide-eyed the seventh graders are at the beginning of the year. I forget how many procedures I need to teach them before we can really gear up and get going.

It's a lesson in patience.