School's In

For me, the start of a new school year has always been more exciting than the start of a new calendar year. It holds more weight, if for no other reason, because it demands decisive goals. You either decide to be on the honor-roll or you vow to take it easy. Maybe you'll try out for the basketball team or try your hand at a part in the school play. In any case, the ideology of the school structure sets students up to make life choices in a way that the work world - in its continuity - does not.

Thankfully, I work in education, so I have easy access to the mentioned benefits of that environment. While my expectations for the year now rely more on the students instead of myself, the structure still allows me wiggle-room to make personal decisions. For example: I'm making it a point to be involved in the school Shakespeare performance this year. My job is steadily requiring more responsibility and input from me, so now I must learn to delegate and mentor the staff intern.

Above all, I hope to remember that the students are the focus of this program. I have a tendency to set high expectations, and I don't plan to mitigate them, but it's good to remember what it was like just trying to get through high school. I had a brief flashback of such times when I sat to take the CBEST. Sitting in a desk surrounded by people there for the same purpose took me back to the smell of fresh pencils and doodle marks on stray scraps of paper. I briefly wondered who the finest guy in the room was, and it made me smile. School in general was fun because it was more than the educational experience, as I'd like our students to think (for necessary and obvious reasons). It was a lesson in social experience that began anew each year, and for that reason alone, it was precious.

To the start of '08-'09...