SoL: First Day of School

Part of Slice of Life, hosted by Two Writing Teachers

I start school tomorrow and I’m not ready.

That’s not hyperbole. I am not ready. I have three classes scheduled, and I am, in fact, ready for two of them – two sections of College Writing I. There are gaps in the schedule on my syllabus, but I have the big picture, and all the necessary information, due dates for the major projects, and a solid plan for my first several weeks.

That third class, the ESL writing preparation class, is not so well organized. This is the first time I am teaching this course and I was really excited to get it. I started planning back in June.  Then life hit, and I worked on all my classes only sporadically.

I pulled it together and got the writing classes worked out. That was a bit easier, since I had past semesters to work from. I keep notes as each semester goes along about what worked, what ideas I might want to try, what projects proved most difficult and might need more or different scaffolding. So, I had a good starting point.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m ready for the first day of class. I’m ready for the first few weeks of class. I just don’t have the same solid big picture for this course. My syllabus doesn’t yet have all the required language (and so, clearly, it’s not yet printed).

My distracted summer has made my fist day jitters worse. But I still have that same feeling of excitement; ready to meet a new group of students, looking forward to this year’s film and lecture series on campus, anxious to see how some new ideas will work out. 

And, I’m really looking forward to getting back into a regular routine. I’m really looking forward to being too busy to be sad.

And for my last day of summer vacation, with my daughters already off to school and my husband out the door early, I’m waiting on some friends to go walking with me, then to chat over coffee before I delve into my final day of preparation. With that sort of beginning, I know I’ll be ready in the morning.