Strategy Saturday {How to Survive the End of the Year.}

If your life is anything like mine right now, the speed is hyper-drive, and you are just trying to hang out for dear life, while maintaining some sense of professionalism and appearance of having your life together. 

Before you start to say, "Lucy, it's so hard.", "Lucy, I am so tired." - let me tell you one more important detail - 

I have everything I have ever asked, wished, and prayed for and the gratefulness in my heart pours out daily. 

Yes, you read that right - despite my long days due to supervising an after school tutoring program, despite my weekend drives to another city to see my boyfriend, and despite my inability to make it home to my parents, because I had been busy with grad school - y'all, I am sublimely happy (in my Cher Horowitz voice.) 

I completed my first semester of grad school at UNC, and I found it mentally challenging and I was eager to learn, which means I made the right choice. Academics is my only claim to fame - I am as uncoordinated as a baby giraffe and for some reason, Hollywood hasn't rang up your girl yet, so academics is the one thing I am holding onto. When I chose UNC, I was looking for a challenge, and I found it and I loved it. I am mind blown to think that very soon, I won't be someone's teacher anymore, but it's exactly where I want to be. 

In addition to finishing my first semester, I have been supervising an EOG tutoring program at my elementary school, and it has been a great learning experience for my future as a school leader. Coordinating transportation, handling parents and discipline, and ensuring teachers are doing what they need to do has been a great learning experience, and while I am very ready to have my Monday through Thursday afternoons back, I am glad to have received another great highlight for my resume. 

The end of the year is quickly approaching, and when I say the end of the year, I mean our time with students is numbered. I know very few teachers who will take the complete summer off - whether it is for financial or professional reasons, the summers that teachers will have will be short. The end of the year is such a difficult time for so many reasons - the sense of urgency is realer than ever, and all emotions are running high. Just remember: this is what you have been working for. The journey you have been on with your students for the last hundred and something days has prepared for them for nothing but success. Know that when I say success, I am talking about growth and their readiness for their next experience, and nothing to do with their performance on standardized assessments. That is not where the beauty in teaching is - not at all. 

Just remember: to breathe and keep your eyes open, because your time with your students will be over before you know it. Soak in their corny jokes, their endless questions, and their love for you. Every class is special for a million different reasons, and just remember to love them so hard for these last couple of weeks. Also remember, that your worth and their worth are not tied to any test, assessment, or evaluation - if students are walking out of your door with growth, you did your job. Teaching is about growing students and making them better and more capable every day. 

As the year wraps up, be as fabulous as you were at the beginning! 

Until next time, loves - 

xo