Teachers know that August is the Sunday of Summer. At least, it is for those of us who start teaching after Labor Day. For me, it means that my brain starts having school thoughts.
I’ve already checked my classes to see if the new ones have been populated. They haven’t. With a new middle school opening, I’ve been wondering who I will get to teach again. I can still see last year’s students, and since I am moving up with my 6th graders, I printed off my class lists and checked out their enrollment for 7th grade. I wish I had the previous year’s class lists, since I will also be teaching 8th grade ELA.
In 7th grade, we read Julius Caesar and Hamlet. In 8th we read Macbeth. I’ve borrowed various DVDs of each from the library to refresh my memory. I read Julius Caesar in grade 10 but still remembered some of the lines I had to memorize in Mr Cull’s class. There were whole parts I’d forgotten, too. I read Macbeth in grade 12 or 13 – I can’t quite remember – and I saw the opera version a few years ago. My first exposure to Hamlet came from Gilligan’s Island.
Last week, I bought an orange notebook and a green notebook, the exact sort and colors I’ve purchased every year since I moved back to middle school. In the past, I used the orange one for morning classes and the green for afternoon, but I’m thinking one will be for 7th and the other for 8th grade ELA. A lot will depend on the schedule I receive later this month.
I have an eye appointment next week. I might even get new glasses for the first time in four years.
I’ve been thinking about checking out some curriculum guides from the school library. It will be a year of learning for me as well as for the students, most of whom have not set foot in our building since March 2020. It would be nice to take a look at what I am supposed to teach. I’m not sure when the library will be staffed, though.
I need to unpack all the boxes I packed in June. August always means carpet cleaning and it can be a complicated dance to coordinate the custodial staff’s need to get the building ready for September with my need to unpack and organize and my need to suck the marrow out of the last days of summer holidays.
booksandbassets 
Thanks for sharing your back-to-school thoughts. It amazes me how what you are teaching in middle school is what was taught to you in high school. I see this same trend in both math and ELA with what I was taught and required to teach. I question it. Best luck to you for the school year.
I teach in a program for gifted students. It’s really mostly an intro to Shakespeare. We did A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 6th grade
It is something how a teacher’s mind is automatically drawn back to the classroom come August 1. I was the same way. Hope you enjoy the rest of your summer and you mind can take a vacation from room set up, courses to be taught and lesson plans.
You are so much in school mode. My best preparation is to soak in all the summer goodness I can to build my resilience for whatever this year might bring. Can’t escape school thoughts though – teacher brain.