Less Than A Week To Go...

Today is a mixed bag;  there is less than a week to go before a new school year begins.
Part of the bag is filled with promise;  a new year means new students, new courses and new beginnings.  This is good because I am now renewed and refreshed to face all the excited faces who share my passion for visual arts.  I have forgotten all the problems and issues that stayed behind my when I walked out of the school in June.  I am excited with new ideas for the courses I am teaching and looking forward to what the year holds.  I can't wait to get back into the classroom and face each new day as it comes.
Also in the bag is hesitation;  a week left of summer vacation and a new year of drama, whining and self-entitlement...not all of which comes from the students.  I am also a little hesitant this year because instead of teaching 3 courses first semester (as is the norm), I am teaching 5 (I have two split level courses - brilliant of my guidance department considering both combine the introduction and the experienced sections of the course).  This is hard to balance and a lot of prep work for me.  Right now my brain is still in summer mode.  It takes more than just a switch that flicks to on to get my brain going into teacher-mode.  I enjoy my summer vacation and although my husband is antsy with just a month of vacation, after having taught summer school, I could have another month of time just to complete my list of things-to-do and still be happy...until I look at my bank account.
I am then reminded that I am excited about going back in a week because it will mean I get paid!  It's amazing to me that this one particular element of teachings-having-the-summer-off is often left out of the rant that I hear from non teachers about how nice it would be to have 2 months off.  My usual retort is something along the lines of "you had the same opportunity to go into teaching that I had, I guess I chose wisely"...maybe the next time I get the thinly veiled jealousy I'm going to respond with something about having a 2 month vacation from my paycheck too.