School year symmetry

Tomorrow is May 1, the first day of the last month of school.  It's incomprehensible to me that eight months have disappeared in what feels like the span of just a few weeks.  As I took my evening walk and thought about what lies ahead during this final month I thought back to what occurs in the first month of school...and came up with a list of ways the two months mirror each other.  I have to believe there's some "verse" word that applies to this stuff - inverse, converse, reverse - but I'm not smart enough to figure it out.  Anyway.....

....as we finish the first month of school students are settling into classroom routines and procedures.  Life is good.  As we begin the final month of school students can do routines and procedures in their sleep.....but suddenly it's the final month of school so all bets are off.

.....as we finish the first month of school leaves are changing colors and the crisp air of fall invigorates us.  As we begin the final month of school leaves are beginning to emerge and any hint of crisp air is met with cries of disdain at the winter that won't let go and the possibility of another indoor recess.

.....in the first month of school kids are running cross country races on golf courses; in the final month kids are running around tracks because the golf courses are being used by, well, the golf team.  In September girls are playing tennis, in May it's the boys' turn to use the courts.  In the fall there's a girls' team hitting a volleyball, in the spring there's a girls' team hitting a softball.  The football cleats of fall are exchanged for the baseball cleats of spring.  Good grief, we have a lot of sports.

....in early September we begin testing kids to find out how depressed we should act at the nosedive their scores took since last spring while secretly hoping for really low scores so our students have a better chance at showing growth.  In May we test kids one final time and desperately hope for enough growth to satisfy Big Brother.

.....school begins right after Labor Day, the holiday widely known to be the end of summer.  School ends right after Memorial Day, the holiday widely known to be responsible for destroying any hope of instruction on the school days that follow.

.....in September we remind kids there's this thing called the alphabet that, to them, should be treated as the Holy Grail of reading success.  In May we use the Holy Grail to sip our elixir of sanity in the form of an alphabet countdown which keeps the kids somewhat excited about school and keeps teachers from constantly having to ask "HOW many days did you say we have left??!?"

......as the school year begins teachers and students show up in their back-to-school clothes looking prim and proper.  As the school year ends clothing and bathing both feel more like a "none of the above" option.

.....as the first month of school winds down teachers are hitting their stride for the year, feeling strong, ready to change the world one student at a time.  As the final month of the school year begins teachers are searching the employment section of the want ads.

Hang in there, teachers and students - this month, too, will be gone before you know it!