Dear Fall Mr. Lukenbill,
I'm writing to you on this final day of school with hopes of helping your impending school year start smoothly and progress positively. Like your students, you are prone to experience summer slide; many of the lessons you learn during each school year you tend to forget between May and September. It's ok, happens to a lot of teachers. So before I drift completely into my summer stupor.....which will begin sometime within the next 20 hours......I shall share with you some of the big lessons from these past nine months that I've been holding on to in preparation for this message. No need to thank me.....by the time you read this I'll have completely forgotten writing it.
Here's your first, and most important, reminder: The students you have now are not the students you'll have next spring. They will mature. They will learn to read. They will stop interrupting you. But, and this is the key, those things will occur only with your help. You cannot make them happen, and they will not happen as soon as you'd like. Remember, you chose to take on your current role because you believed you have what it takes to make a difference for the kids who need the biggest difference made. The kids you worked with last year, this year, and next year are the kids who don't understand a thing about reading, don't listen, don't sit still, don't have a sense of humor, aren't very healthy, and pass gas all. the. time. But they don't choose to come to you like that, either, which you have forgotten too often lately. It's time you start remembering how to do your job better. You are the guy who can teach a rock to read. So start teaching on Day One and don't stop until those smelly little buggers can read.
Next lesson: You're going to test kids in a couple of weeks. Some of them, maybe even many of them, will have regressed to levels far below what they were when they left you three months ago. You need to accept this! You cannot change education's prehistoric calendar model, just like those kids who didn't read all summer cannot change the non-literary environment they live in. So, be prepared for the big gut-punch when you see that Gwendoline can't read anymore, then refer back to the first lesson and get busy.
As you read this in early September you're going to be looking out at an entire school year ahead of you. It's going to seem daunting, and probably kind of depressing coming off of three straight months of not having to wear pants. In the blink of an eye, though, you'll be waking up on the last day of school. Your daughter will be graduating. Your youngest will be turning into a sixth-grader. You have to, have to, savor each day more than you have for a long, long time. Weeks will feel long, some days will try to bury you - savor! Find the fun moments and laugh, recognize the special moments and drink them in. Stop watching the clock so much and start watching each day unfold. I guarantee you the time will pass at the same rate either way.
I want to let you know your efforts at balancing your work with your life have been needed and effective. Two years ago you started coming to school a little later and leaving a little earlier. You took a lot less work home, both physically and mentally. You became a better dad. You got a lot more rest. But this past year your balance went a little too far to the life side. You owe it to your students and your teammates to swing back the other way, just a little. You finally figured out how to put your family first, and yourself next....but you can't neglect your career as much as you did last year. Get back on track this year, ok?
Oh, and one final thing: About those teammates I just mentioned.....cherish them. You are surrounded by teachers who love what they do, so let their enthusiasm rub off on you a little! And, whether you like it or not, they love you, too. Aaaaannnnndddd, whether you'll admit it or not, you love them. So start acting like it. You hardly talked to the grade level around you this year. You missed opportunities to help teachers who needed your wisdom. They look to you for leadership, so doggone it you need to lead them again! Yes, they drive you bonkers sometimes - you aren't exactly a perfect plum either, you know! As I write this I am filled with regret at how flippant and grumpy and not fun I was these last nine months. You are not allowed to be like that! They will test your patience and they will want to talk at all the wrong times and they will cry far more than any one man needs to see.....but they are your people. Join them again.
Good luck, Sir! Being a teacher is really hard. Teaching is really hard. But I think you...I...have made it harder than it needs to be sometimes. Be prepared for really frustrating moments this year, 'cause after twenty years you know they always happen. But they always pass, too. So endure the frustration and then teach like crazy for those kids, lead like crazy for those teammates, and make your year the best it can be for you!
Very sincerely yours (literally),
Spring Mr. Lukenbill
p.s. Hunting season will be here before you know it - request your days off NOW!
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