The walls are bare. Things are put away. I imagine if I shouted, there would be an echo in this classroom. The transition to summer is always tinged with complex emotions. We, who have built a community through the year, now go our separate ways. Friends are retiring, which is good for them, sad for me. Summer is time to rest and renew. The military knew that R and R was good for stress management, and while we’re not in the trenches or on the front lines, as teachers, we do have stressful jobs.
Every year, if we are doing it right, we build relationships with over a hundred people. It is important for our students to know we care about them. I have tried to live by Tolstoy’s wisdom: “Remember that there is only one important time and that is now. The present moment is the only time over which we have dominion. The most important person is always the person you are with, who is right before you, for who knows if you will have dealings with any other person in the future? The most important pursuit is making the person standing at your side happy, for that alone is the pursuit of life.”
Every day, the person at my side is all my students, needing answers, needing help. That can take a lot out of you. But, the best thing is that even though we get stressed and tired, all that relationship building makes us stronger. We are enriched by those we learn with. So while the summer provides some needed rest and time to reflect, by August, I’ll be ready to come back. This is a job that keeps me young.