This year I will be teaching grade 3 for the first time EVER! I may have already announced that in another blog post, but every time I say it I get a little anxious. Just a little bit because while I’ve taught every grade from grade 1 to grade 8, I’ve never taught grade 3. Also, there are only two grade 3 classes in my school this year; I haven’t been in a 2-person team in years.

So, this year will be different, but so was last year.

In fact, it has become a cliche to say that last year was a year for the books or some other similar sounding cliche. But it definitely was a year like no other. I’m anticipating it won’t be that much different this year. Fortunately, we are better prepared this year. At least, that is my secret hope.

But this year is the aftermath of last year. The tremor after the earthquake that turns into another tremor and so on.

If you’ve been in education as long as I have you know that every year poses a new set of challenges. Every year requires more of us.

So, like every year, I’m preparing by finding teachers to follow on social media, creating a list of compelling read aloud books to share with students and immersing myself in professional books that will help me be the best teacher I can be to my 27 students.

The big difference for me is that this year I am going to cut out everything that doesn’t add value to my life.

I will prioritize my students.

I will prioritize myself and my family.

That is definitely going to make this a very different year for me.

And. I am SO looking forward to it!

How about you? How will you approach this new school year? What will you prioritize? What will you keep? What will you discard?