A Bittersweet Back to School Season

This is the first year in five years that I'm not stressing out about getting my classroom reading for the first day of school. I miss the nervous excitement of that first day, an endless list of names to pour and memorize (hopefully by the end of the month...or by October). I miss hanging new posters in my room, re-arranging the desks, adding new books to my shelves. I miss seeing other teachers after the summer break, hearing about what they did during their time off.

My view this time last year.

However, I am so glad I get to spend time with my baby boy. Last Sunday night, I was up feeding him at 2:30 and so grateful that I didn't have to be up at 6 to get ready for work. I never truly appreciated working mothers until now.

I will still be teaching. I will teach two writing classes at a local community college. So, two days a week, I will be a working mother. I am grateful for that, too. I like working, so I feel like I get the best of both worlds.

My favorite moments.

I'll also have more time to work on my Teachers Pay Teachers store, which was severely neglected during my maternity leave.

Here are some of my (recently spruced up) products that I always used to start out the year:

I always started with short stories because I felt it was the best way to teach so many of the concepts that we hit so hard throughout the year in ELA. I taught theme, plot structure, characterization, symbolism, and so much more using some of my favorite short stories ("The Most Dangerous Game" and "Thank You, M'am" included).

I want to wish everyone a wonderful back to school season! May it be full of inspiration, teachable moments, and hopefully no office referrals until at least after fall break ;).