Summer school just ended on Friday. Today is the first day of my shortened summer, yet all I can think about is September 2nd. My mind is racing with fears and hopes and nerves and plans.

I keep finding myself focused on the bad parts, on the fears and the nerves and the things I don’t want to happen. I’m not going to write about that, though. I am going to make myself focus on the hopes and plans instead. Starting with the good couldn’t hurt.

I hope that I will find more ways to be a guide to learning instead of a dispenser of knowledge. I hope that I will be able to get my students to be active learners. I’ve got three weeks to work on plans to make this happen.

I am planning to be more organized this year. I need to set up a better system for students to be able to access missing work and absent work without needing me. What I tried last year did not work, and I found myself scrambling during valuable instructional time to get work together for them. I’m going to need a few more hanging file boxes for this, I think.

I hope that I will keep up with the paperwork end of teaching better. I know that I need to give better, more timely feedback, and I will try to this year.

I am planning to do a better job of involving students in creating the kind of classroom that they need to be able to learn. I have usually been the maker of the rules, the enforcer of punishments, and the giver of rewards for good behavior in the past. I’ve done a lot of reading this summer that has me convinced that a more democratic, student-centered, less coercive classroom would be more aligned with my beliefs and principles, along with being more effective.

I have a lot of anxiety about this new school year. I am trying to focus on the things I can control, the things I can do myself to make it better than last year, but I’m still worrying a lot. I’m going to try give myself the next week off from thinking about school. Maybe some rest will be good for me.