Tuesday, August 27, 2024
Written by Bethany Counard
2025 Wisconsin Teacher of the Year
English language arts teacher at West De Pere Middle School (School District of West De Pere)
When I was young, I knew that June was hours spent in the car on family road trips. July was water splashing from a pool, cooling off from the baking sun. But August was the sound of our feet as they echoed, running across tiles in an old, hushed hallway. It was the exhale from a classroom door opened for the first time in months. It was the swirl of chalk in the heavy air from the “lessons” I had just written on the board.
At the end of each summer, my sister and I would tag along as my dad went to school to get his room ready for the coming students. We enjoyed our summers as a family, don’t get me wrong, drawing out the days with friends and fun. But walking into a silent, waiting school building in August always felt like we were on the cusp of something good just about to happen.
Maybe it’s just me, but then again, perhaps you feel it, too -- the anticipation unique to the start of the school year. By my count of all of my own years as both student and teacher, this year will mark my 44th “First Day of School.” And still every August, down the corridors of freshly waxed floors and next to the silent, waiting computers, there is the feeling of something good just about to happen.
The end of the school year, by comparison, we can all agree, is hectic, and hurried, and holds its own energy. We know each of our students, and they know us pretty well by that time, too. They know our go-to phrases, and the “it’s time to get serious” tone, and our funny quirks and tricks. We can hardly remember a time when those faces were unfamiliar, when we didn’t know what heavy baggage some of them carry, or who their friends are, or what jokes make them roll their eyes. But then, they leave, and we take a deep breath and exhale. We relax and refresh, and we start it all over again every August.
If we’re honest, we know that August anticipation, while simmering with excitement, is also tinged with end-of-summer sadness, nervousness, and even a small dose of fear. Students wonder if their teacher will like them, and if they will like their teacher, and if they will fit in. Parents are already shedding tears for their first born getting ready for kindergarten, or their baby getting ready for college. They hope (simply) that their child will be seen and cared for. Camping trips and weekend get-aways are planned for the last days of summer. Futile attempts are made by teens (or their parents) to reset sleep schedules. And for teachers, well, somehow those back-to-school dreams strike like clockwork on August 1.
We know well the challenges we will face: there will certainly be hard days, stacks of essays or projects, and limited trips to the bathroom. We’ll attend meetings, create sub plans for (hopefully not too many) sick days, and have difficult conversations.
But we will also get to meet 15, or 30, or even 150 new people this year. We will get to know them -- not just in passing, not just their names, but really know them --and their increasingly strange slang, and what they love, and how they best learn. There will be class parties, school dress up days, and classroom jokes. There will be shouts on the playground, and chatter in crowded hallways, and pride that comes with a lesson learned, with a job well done. And by May, we will once again wonder how the year went by so quickly.
Whether this is your first year or your thirtieth, I know you’ll walk into your building for the first time this school year with a renewed sense of purpose. It will be as familiar as your own living room, or it will be brand new, and you’ll have to ask for directions to the copier. It will be quiet as you turn on the first light in the hallway, or it will be filled with calls of “how was your summer?” and answers of “it went so quickly.” Your classroom might have been carefully put back together after summer cleaning, or you will have to move furniture and unpack boxes yourself. You’ll meet together again as a staff, or as a team, or with a colleague. You’ll reconnect with friends, or even former students. You will set out name tags for Open House or Back-To-School Night or Meet-the-Teacher, and you’ll set expectations and goals for yourself and your classes.
You will greet students at the door, and you’ll take a deep breath and exhale. Something good is just about to happen. Welcome back to school.
About the Author Bethany Counard, English language arts teacher at West De Pere Middle School (School District of West De Pere)
Counard has taught eight-grade ELA at the school since 2018, guiding students as they explore new topics and encouraging them to ask questions, be authentic and creative. Counard helps students become competent and conscientious members of society by promoting the growth of the whole child – academically, socially, and emotionally. She strives to create a student-led environment, and involves students in all aspects of her classroom, providing opportunities for them to realize the relevancy of what they are learning. Counard is also an advisor to the school’s National Junior Honor Society, where students address needs within the community.