This is the last week of coursework for the teacher training program I’ve been in for the last 16 months or so. It’s been a demanding trip. As best as I can figure, I’ll have 24 college units accumulated by the end, four statewide tests I’ve had to pass, and about 40 separate observations of my work in the classroom. I think I can speak for everyone in this class of 2010 that we’re ready for school to let out at last!

Teachers live by a different work rhythm than most everybody else and the summers are an important time. We like to joke that it’s not the students that need a break, it’s the teachers. Summer is a time to think about how to do it better next year, to mentally and then on paper plan the improvements, to organize one’s thoughts, to do all the things that we couldn’t get to during the months of instruction. And, of course, to enjoy one’s own family, to have a barbecue, go to the pool, take a car trip — a great deal of things have been put off by the time June rolls around.

Teaching has changed who I am, a bit — I had an important meeting with my own children in the last couple of weeks, the gist of which was “if my class of second graders can pick up after themselves, why are you claiming you can’t?” We set up a new chore plan. The understanding of how important rules and procedures are to human well-being is reinforced in elementary school.

One our professors told us last week, “the job of the elementary teacher is to introduce the students to the wonder of the world, to make them see that our existence is full of mystery and excitement, and to begin to show them ways to explore it.” Yes! I thought. That is why I chose elementary — and when I think on my best moments from the past year, and my plans about next, that is what I want to focus on, opening doors to the world.