One of my most favorite tasks at the beginning of a new school year is going to Staples and the school bookstore to buy new school supplies. I love getting new notebooks, a blank planner and a bunch of new colored pens to mark the start of a new school year. I can literally spend an hour in the pen aisle alone field testing all the different pens and markers trying to find just the right color or feel of a new pen. While many may not share my obsession with a new writing implement, I know that I am not alone because I am rarely the only one in the pen aisle “lingering” for the better part of an hour.
The excitement and anticipation of an impending school year is one of the unintended benefits of being a teacher. Every new year brings an opportunity to “start afresh” and reinvent oneself. Even though I will be teaching classes that I have taught before, each year is a completely different experience with an entirely new set of challenges. The classes may be the same but the students are new to me and me to them. What worked with last year’s class may not work this year. I have a bunch of new ideas that I want to try out and some things that I did last year that I will scrap this year. How many other professions get a “mulligan” every 12 months?
Adding to my excitement about the start of a new school year is the fact that I have a daughter who is going into the 5th grade this year. She received her list of required school supplies from her new teacher a few weeks ago which meant that we had to IMMEDIATELY (according to her) go out and get everything on her list and pack her backpack for the first day of school even though it was still several weeks away. I must admit that our pilgrimage to Staples and Target was hardly a chore for me since it meant that I got to hang out in the pen aisle with her as we picked out just the right package of brand new pens.
The icing on the cake for me was the past few days at my own school when I worked with our new faculty during their orientation. Their genuine excitement about the upcoming school year was palpable and infectious. It was like being in the pen aisle at Staples all over again for me. Even though this will be my 26th new school year, I still get genuinely invorated about the start of a new year and rarely get a good night’s sleep the night before the first day of classes because I am so eager to meet my new classes and embark on a new journey with them.
Nobody told me about the joys of a new school year when I first started teaching, but I must say that it is one of the best aspects of being a teacher. Every 12 months I get to feel like a 5th grader in the pen aisle at Staples…how can you beat that?