First Days

It is back-to-school time here in the City in which I taught for nearly 30 years. You can sense the anticipation in the  breezes that flow down the Merrimack. There is  an almost unidentifiable change to the air. We are changing seasons; we are changing routines.I loved the first day of school when I was teaching. Make no mistake about it, those first days - and oftentimes weeks - are exhausting as teachers and their new students work to find common ground and to build a community. The first day, the day when everyone wears a little vulnerability in anticipation of new things, the first day is special. And for every teacher who starts rebuilding a new community of learners today, I wish you the best.My mind floods with the memories of some of those wonderfully special students who made the 30 first days that I was privileged to be part of special. So many unique personalities! You kids have enriched my life in ways I could never have imagined.In 1990, I was returning to the classroom after a summer of health crises. I remember the exhaustion that year was not from teaching, but from treatments. Dragging my sorry self into a classroom filled with second graders was not only teacher-exhausting, it was physically and mentally exhausting. Yet every single morning, one of my bubbly, precious second graders, Anita, would throw her arms into the air and tell me "Mrs. Bisson, you look mahvelous today!" Now I know the reality was, I didn't look even close to passable most days. Some mornings, Anita's greeting was the one thing that kept me moving forward. A few years later, this special girl lost her own battle with cancer - and took a piece of my heart with her to heaven.All of "my" kids whether you are grown with your own children or still in the middle of schooling, I am grateful to every single one of you. You challenged me to do better, to figure it out, and yet, every day you taught me something about making the most of our time here in our classroom community and on this earth. All those times when you thought I was teaching you, you were really teaching me.Students are meeting their teachers once again today. May you all have a year filled with precious moments and memory-making. Cherish each moment as you build a lifetime of memories.

What If Miss Parker Hadn't

I was in the seventh grade when Miss Parker told me, "Donovan, we could put all your excess energy to good use." And she introduced me to the sound of my own voice.

In five minutes, Donovan Livingston the Student speaker at Harvard Graduate School of Education 2016 Convocation and Ed.M. candidate uses his voice to remind all of us of why education is powerful. His voice reminds us that equity in access to education and educational possibilities cannot and should not be restricted.The reason to be an educator is embedded in his poetry.  A number on a test does not define a person's worth. Invest in five minutes that can reaffirm your resolve to be an educator.https://youtu.be/9XGUpKITeJMUse this link from Harvard GSE to link to the text.

To whom are you accountable?

We were asked that very question during a faculty meeting presentation yesterday.  Oh there are layers and layers of accountability in the education world in which we live: administrators, students, parents. Yes, we are all accountable to them. Family members, significant others? Those people too.My answer? I am accountable to me.I am accountable to me for what I do in my profession. And for acting to improve those things that need fixing in my own practice. If, on reflection, a lesson fails, it is on me to figure that out and fix it. If the students "don't get" what I'm teaching, I am accountable for finding another way for them to access those skills or that knowledge.If I disagree with how I am being told to teach or even what to teach, I am accountable to me. I need to read and research and seek out those who are expert so that I can persuade or disagree or (heavens!) go against the directive and do what is right. Even when it is lonely.Oh there are some "experts" who have the bully pulpit these days who would tell me that my job is to follow directives. Like a sheep.But sometimes I cannot do that.  I am accountable to me.

Change is good

Like lots of teachers, I am burnt to a crisp mentally by the time June arrives. Some years, this happens sooner - usually those are the years that can be identified as curriculum change years.This year has been a particular challenge. You see, this year, everything was new again. I have been teaching for a l-o-n-g time and while I never teach the same things the same way twice - which makes sense, the kids are different and have different needs - one would think there would be something that would be connected to prior years.Not true of the academic year that has just ended. We were charged with changing our math curriculum, our science curriculum, and our English Language Arts curriculum. The level of discomfort with curriculum was pretty high.The amount of time preparing was off the charts. Why? Because anyone in the education field can tell you that those Grade 3-6 materials suggestions are often (mostly) directed toward students in the middle of that grade span.  In other words, we - my grade level team and I - spent inordinate amounts of time trying to find comparable materials to teach our students.My husband tells me that I'm a "magic bullet" kind of person. I am continually looking for the just right solution.  To this end, I discovered a great book by Mike Anderson and published by ASCD: The Well-Balanced Teacher.  If you are a study-guide kind of person, here is a link you might enjoy. FB fiends (guilty!) might like this page.It has been an eye-opening read. And somewhat comforting to know that there are plenty of other educators feeling the same way I do about the need to work smarter and be more balanced.  Ten months of 10- to 12-hour days does not make for a happy, creative teacher.Summer is a time of renewal. A time to reset those parts of my life that have gone out of balance. It is time to make change good.

The End of a Year

"My" babies are ready to fly to coop. In just 2 days my third graders will bump up to fourth grade.  We're both nervous I think: they of the unknown, me of  fear that the preparations we've made for this day haven't been enough.It has been a privilege to work with these kids.  At times challenging and other times a cakewalk, we started the year as strangers and little-by-little have grown into familiarity.For some, all I can provide is a temporary haven. School should be a safe place, far removed from domestic issues like hunger or poverty or violence.  That has not always been true for all of my children this year, and when the ugliness of  socioeconomic traumas become apparent, words fail. A hug, a quiet word. The ache and worry that this child has been left behind to float through whatever safety net our society provides is overpowering.There have been good times. Last week we looked at a text and the depth of the students' discussion was simply amazing. After a year of hammering students to do something more than retell the facts or plots of a story, it was an exquisite, if momentary high.  They can do it, they can cross over to a real literate life.This week, our last together, has been spent remembering some of the fun and some of the hard work that has been part of our time together. I am not looking forward to the last day with the kids this year; I know it will be a bittersweet day. A day when we all celebrate making it to that 180th day, but also a day when our paths diverge.

A Life on the "Outside"

Often I excuse my compulsive need to read and research all things educational with "I don't have a life." It is true that my child has long grown past needing me as a parent - I no longer do homework or nag to complete projects or carpool to sports. So I don't have obligations or promises to keep in that regard.So why don't I live a "normal" life - one where you leave things at work, not to worry over them until the next day?Teaching, believe it or not, is an insane profession. Piecing together the puzzle of why one child masters a topic while the other struggles - and what to do about that - is a riddle I not sure I'll ever master. Twenty-five years later, I continue to struggle with delivering lessons effectively, lessons that children enjoy and connect to other learning. That takes research. Thank goodness for the World-wide Web or I would need a cot set up in the local library.Lately, I've begun to wonder about what life will be like for me outside of teaching. I have two - or three if our investments tank - years left in the classroom before I feel financially secure enough to back away from a "regular job."I know I'd like to travel. I know I'd like to explore a book writing idea that Adrien and I have had on the back burner for several years. Throughout my life I have done something in the arts, I enjoy cooking and gardening and reading and knitting. But mostly what I've been for nearly half of my life is a teacher.I regret the lack of balance in my life. That my profession overwhelms and consumes me most days. But I am hopeful that I can find my place in the world - my life on the "outside". 

Hello, Noah

I realize that this reference to a classic Bill Cosby routine makes me one big, giant fossil, but I can't resist making a connection after this week.First of all, is should we all be building arks here in New England? Around my house we have 7 foot snowbanks created after the nonstop deluge of snow "events" which began in mid-January.  There seems to be no end in sight. Today, forecasters are calling for rain and possibly a finish of snow.  Once this stuff begins to melt, we'll be floating.I thought of this routine again yesterday when we were having our Morning Meeting.  One of my students, who has pretty much perfect attendance, did not come to school Thursday -- we had snow cancellations on Tuesday and Wednesday. As he is a bus student, when he didn't come to school Thursday, I didn't think it was too remarkable.  The school buses that day were late - some by hours - city streets are clogged with snow and no place to put it.However, this student expressed surprise that we had school on Thursday. He claimed to have gotten the robo call from the school-wide information system canceling school. This led to quite a discussion from my students; some get the calls and others do not, usually because they have no working phone number or because the phone number that was shared earlier has been changed (and changed, and changed).But what really made me laugh was the insistence of one of my students that God called her house to cancel school. In actuality, our Assistant Superintendent for Business initiates the call.And while he does have a deep voice, I'm sure he's located in Lowell not in some more heavenly environ.Right.

Faces of Poverty

If you look, if you don't avert your eyes, you can see the effects of poverty and trauma on a person.One of "my" parents happened to come to the classroom this week so I could confirm she was indeed the parent of one of my students. This was so that the student could be released early to her; the parent was not carrying a picture id.On first glance, she looks older than me. Her shoulders and body frame seem stooped, she shuffles somewhat. This day, however, as we chatted, I noticed her face. Her skin does not sag as mine does now, her eyes lack wrinkles; those wrinkles are reserved for worry spots - the brow, her forehead.She carries the weight of her family's problems: her husband has been in a nasty public hospital since before Christmas. Her children are her world, all four of them - she lost a fifth child a few years ago to illness. The family's new apartment, an apartment they recently found after living in a shelter, was recently the scene of a Keystone Cops-style criminal gun chase. To hear my student tell the story the police chased a suspect right through the front door and out the back with guns drawn.Honestly, I don't know how this woman holds herself together. The daily barrage of trying to survive in such a hostile environment would do more than make me look older. She must be one of the most resilient of spirits that I have ever met!And she is a face to remember. A face of poverty in our land of plenty.

Letting Go

One of my New Year's Resolutions - the list is really long! - is to try not to be such a control freak about what we do in the classroom. I'm letting go of the idea that I need to be at school before 6:30 am (our school begins at 8:30) and that I can't possibly leave before 5 pm to get things done. Yesterday I left the house at 7 am and discovered that there is a world of sunlight out there!Well, the reform movement can also be applied to my students. Yes, in general, they are a handful, but just maybe they will step up to the plate if I shift some responsibility on to them.Up to this point, I had very complicated management for what part of the Daily 5 Cafe each student was responsible to complete on a daily basis.  I felt the need to do this because of the requirements for small-group instruction within our school - Safety Net students must meet with teacher and literacy partner (also a teacher) twice each day. Out of a 40 minute block, that does not leave much time for self reading, does it? And when do these very needy kids get to experience (and possibly get jazzed up by) other aspects of literacy? It was a puzzlement.So, I've shifted things around so that the whole group lesson is scheduled for a half-hour instead of 15 minutes. Will I spend 15 minutes in lecture mode? Heck no! I just am keeping that time so that kids can go off and start other things before they are in full small group rotation mode.  I think it will work - at least it did yesterday.Additionally, the rest of the students who are not in a small instructional group, now have the flexibility (I think my exact words to them were: "I think you are grown up enough to handle this....") of completing the D5 activities in whatever order pleases them. They have to make 3 commitments: 1) to read for at least 20 minutes every day without interruptions, 2) turn in their response journal on the assigned day and 3) not to spend all of the D5 block standing in front of the classroom library chatting it up.As I was testing students yesterday (our mid-year Fountas Pinnell tests start now), I looked around the room in amazement. It was quiet, the conversations that were taking place seemed to be about literacy, and outside of 2 students who were testing whether or not I'd notice, no one was in the classroom library socializing.It is hard for me to let go. Most of the time I feel responsible for making sure everything goes perfectly -- and there's the problem. It is not just my responsibility - it is a shared one. And as far as perfect? Well, these are kids, so I need to remind myself to park perfection at the door.So far, so good.

Redirection

It came to me as a sleep-filled message.One of my current charges is a real behavioral headache. This child has witnessed more trauma than anyone should, let alone anyone who is just 9 years old. And, as you might expect, the child has many behavioral tics that get in the way of his -- and everyone else's learning.Even when he has taken medication, prescribed for ADHD and PTSD after behavior modification just didn't seem to be the answer, he has difficulty knowing boundaries and behaving within our classroom norms and ground rules. If one student gets some attention from me he immediately seeks the same. He is an intelligent student, one for whom mastering third grade standards is not a problem.  Yet this need for validation  is exhausting for both of us -- for him, to constantly feel the need to find validation from his teacher.With just two days left until the school year begins again, I have started churning what I can do for my students to redirect them, to make our classroom engaging. For this student, I already felt the dread and pressure of continual interruptions for me to drop everything and give attention - something that needs to be resisted. And the answer came to me: with firmness and consistency, teach the student to self-reflect, to look at his own work and decide for himself if it is his best.If I can do this, and I must succeed to really be this child's teacher, he will take with him wherever he goes. We all need to learn self-reflection; we need to look at what we've accomplished and decide for ourselves if it is or is not our best effort. And isn't that a lesson far more important than anything else I can give him? 

Following Your Bliss

This morning's Boston Globe contained an article about a (former) software engineer who had recently turned teaching yoga full-time.  Struck by similarities to our circumstances, got me thinking about my own career.It is not a secret that recent developments in the field of education are not all that enjoyable for practitioners. We worry if our next false step will lead to public reprimand, or worse. We deal in the complexities of humans, not in the predictability of widgets. Those who think we can easily apply all of the manufacturing or business principles - the very ideas that make for successful businesses - need to consider the human condition more seriously. There are just so many things over which a teacher has control and that is what makes education interesting.In my 20s, I was at turns a bookkeeper and a customer support person. I held a dream of getting an MBA and making my fortune. It was, however, not to be. The software company for which I worked went belly-up leaving me - and many others - without 2 months of pay and with no job. Without the credentials of a B-school graduate, I was left at a crossroad: either accept a secretarial position and start again, or really start again - find what makes you happy.It took several years of introspection to get me to the point where I yielded to the draw education has for me. But, once the decision to return to school was made, I never looked backward. Awkward moments at corporate gatherings aside (at that time, educators were leaving teaching to carve our a career in corporate), a career in education has been for me, the bliss I was seeking.I tried those private sector career moves before I came to teaching. The pundits and politicians can try to erode the enthusiasm and wonder with which I approached teaching from a start now more than 20 years ago. Following the one thing I was meant to do has been a joy a privilege, worth more than the tangible trappings of a more lucrative career.Without regret I have, and continue to follow my bliss.

What the Tour Bus Would Miss....

Junia Yearwood is quickly becoming one of my favorite Boston Globe reads. The article, "If Only Visitors Could See My Students", provides insight into an urban classroom -- and warns of the dangers of believing what one reads or learns via the fifth estate.  So, here is what visitors might miss in my classroom.The quiet girl who transferred in about 2 months ago. Homeless, her family had been living in a local hotel until recently. She is an accomplished reader and is becoming an accomplished writer; a sadness envelopes her most of the day. She write poetry and song lyrics in her native Spanish - and then translates them for all of us to enjoy when she musters the courage to open herself to sharing. In her journal she writes about her father who died suddenly in hospital. If a classmate is in trouble, she is the first to help or provide support. While her mother works the night shift, she watches over a school-age younger brother and 2 twin babies. In her eyes you can see the strain of having to be responsible beyond her chronological years.Engaging and social, nearly always the center of things, the student sitting next cannot read. Oh he tries, but the brain connection between what he sees on paper and what he is able to do disconnects. He has no IEP, yet struggles to read at a beginning grade 1 level. The process for getting him evaluated for special education services may take an entire year of data collection. Meanwhile, he and I do the best we can to make the connections.When he is working with me, he is serious. He wants to learn to read but is terrified his friends will find out that he can't.The next student is a better-than-average third grade student with the potential to be brilliant. He has told me he wants to be a scholar and a scientist. He is a big boy - as wide as he is tall. Though he is often in someone's personal body space, he cannot help himself. Oh how I hope he comes back to visit when he grows to be comfortable with himself! And how I hope he'll hold on to that dream of becoming a scholar and a scientist even when so many temptations surround him that would take him off the path to his goal.Another nearby student exasperates with his absent-mindedness. His brain is working all of the time, though,  and when he expresses an insight into reading, it is mind-blowing. He is convinced he is bad and talks about how his "bad" alter ego needs to take a hike. He is the only student I've ever taught who was convinced he was on Santa's naughty list - and gave detailed reasons why and how he was planning to change the situation. Here is child who is used to people who expect little of him. He hoards food from our breakfast program and from the cafeteria at lunch. Is his family unable to put food on the table? My guess is yes.So many hardworking, complicated students. It is not simply the academics in an urban classroom. As Junia Yearwood points out, a visitor would witness the will of the human spirit to overcome what life has dealt. It is the spirit of my students that inspires, that keeps all of us coming back to work another day.

Adventures with Flat Stanley

We've read the book, we've done the project with our kids (honest truth: not one of the 25 got a single Flat back!). This week my class has been hosting my niece's Flat Stanley. And we are having a blast. Sorry, can't post pictures of kids, but trust me on this.Working on multiplication riddles? Flat Stanley can help.  Daily 5 Rotations? Stanley watches over us and keeps us on task. Assemblies, Bank presentations, whatever we are doing Flat Stanley is there to share the experience.  We've got one more week's visit with Stanley and then we'll have to say good-bye; however, in the meantime, we're enjoying sharing our school and our experiences.Thanks M for sharing your Flat with us.

A Thanksgiving Tale

It's really easy for me to get wrapped around the axel over lack of parental support in a school where poverty is pervasive. I've had 3 teacher assistant team meetings for one child so far this year. The parent never attends and never responds to the meeting invitations. This parent continually writes nasty notes about me, the school, and the classroom. My frustration over no-shows for meetings to remedy this, to conference about the student's progress, or anything else that might involve a little parental effort is only exceeded by the daily interruptions to our afternoon to change a dismissal routine (and I know routine as applied to this student is an oxymoron). This is only 1 story in this classroom.  The other 21 can be just as interesting.Or not. Yesterday offered a glimmer of hope that by inviting parents in, we can forge a working relationship to benefit students.My class has just finished writing our small moment narratives and we put each students' writing into a book which we "published". Yesterday, the half-day before Thanksgiving break, students invited a parent or loved one in to read our inaugural book, to be complimented on their contribution. Knowing some parents may not be able to leave work, I had prepared students whose parent might not be able to come that I, too, had been a working mom -- and offered to be their parent for the celebration.  Being third graders, this of course led to some hilarious moments as classmates considered themselves "brothers" or "sisters" -- if only for an hour.But, back to the topic - getting frustrated with the status quo can lead to lowered expectations. Yesterday, however, helped me to realize that maybe I am focusing on the wrong things.  I met so many parents - sometimes both parents AND a grandparent - who were able to come, to hear their child read their thoughts and writing. One parent offered to help me pass out the apple juice we were offering, another stood in to read with a friend of her own child. And our school administration - Principal, Assistant Principal, and Literacy Specialist - all graciously read with each and every child in the room.The energy, the enthusiasm was right there. It could not be missed. Something special transpired yesterday and not just for the students. On this Thanksgiving Day, I am thankful for the administrators who support me.And I am most thankful for the parents of my students who are willing to share themselves and their child with me.

Reason #1: I touch the future... I teach

Some years ago -- probably more than 10 now that I think of it -- I was eating my lunch at a MassCUE conference when Grace Corrigan sat down with her tray. That name may or may not mean anything to some, but it was an exceptional thrill for me to sit and chat, however briefly with the mother one of my education heroes, Christa McAuliffe.Sharon Christa McAuliffe may have faded from some memories, but not from mine. When the Challenger explosion happened, I was in the midst of my career rebirth -- the M.Ed. program at University of Lowell -- and my own child was a first grader. I still think of the day Challenger burst into flames to the horror of everyone watching and I'm willing to bet that any child who happened to be watching the event on the television that day, certainly can recall it vividly.While I did not know Christa McAuliffe personally, her choice to train to be the first teacher in space, was a huge impact on me. For me, teaching is not about following what is expected. It is about learning to take chances, to try new things, to have a curiosity about life and parlaying those opportunities into moments of educational euphoria.  It is not about the safety of doing what we've gotten used to; it is being on the edge of disaster or success and not necessarily knowing how things turn out until much later. And for me, that is what Christa McAuliffe inspired in me on day she boarded a space shuttle for what should have been the adventure of a lifetime.So many years later, I try to remember this when experts tell me to be successful I need to do this, that or the other thing. Education, even in the era of unprecedented scrutiny where taking chances on what might work seems tougher and tougher to do, needs to be about trying new things even while being mindful of standards and accountability.Christa McAuliffe's mission ended in a tragedy that those of us on the sidelines can barely appreciate. The loss to her family, her friends, her colleagues, her students had to be immeasurable. But her courage, her insatiable curiosity inspires me to keep on taking chances no matter what the odds.

Life in the pressure cooker

Elementary level teachers notice it. If the moon is full, if there it is a windy day, students seem more than a bit wired.  Are kids hypersensitive?I got to thinking about this idea because my students have seemed just a bit more unfocused than usual. There is no full moon and it hasn't been remarkable windy, so what gives?Actually I feel like the explanation is fairly basic. It is no secret that educators are feeling pressure: pressure to raise test scores, pressure to overcome lack of materials needed for teaching, ever dwindling classroom assistance, pressure to be all to some very needy students.We rush to stay on task ourselves and get annoyed with students who balk at transitions. We rush, rush, rush to get from place to place, from lunch to recess, from the bathroom to our classroom. Is it any wonder that our kids act out, that their behaviors telegraph their resistance?Knowing, or thinking that I know, the root cause for students' misbehavior is one thing. But until we all can get off the hamster wheel, students will balk and we will deal. 

Where to begin.....

The first weeks of school, as every teacher will tell you, are spent setting up and refining routines.  I find our school's decision to use the principles of the Responsive Classroom provides lots of guidance and reminders on building a classroom community.This morning, I watched a refresher on one of the most basic of routines: moving through the hallway. This video of Caltha Crowe talking, modeling, and practicing transitioning in a hallway reminds me of the essential teaching that takes place those first days: watch here.Teaching students acceptable routines for behavior in school (and out!) is an immense undertaking. Explaining the reason for the rule, engaging students in the rule's creation, modeling and practice-practice-practice -- all is exhausting during those first weeks when we, too, are getting used to a more structured routine.Is it worth the time and effort? I believe it is. Whenever a class routine disconnect happens, I can usually trace the problem back to the source - me! I wasn't explicit, I didn't provide adequate modeling or practice.And the process will begin next Tuesday at 8:30.

Finding my compass - again

I've put it off for nearly as long as I dare. It is time to start getting ready for a new school year. Completing my list for summer has suddenly kicked in to overdrive: there's still much (re)painting to complete, sorting and throwing to do, cleaning and gardening/landscaping. But suddenly, there is a pressing need to squeeze it all in quickly -- the students return in about a week.I used to get pretty worked up about starting room preparations as soon as we turned the calendar to August. This year for the first time in my career, I've managed to make it all the way to the last 10 days before school begins. I suppose that's growth. Hopefully it's not burnout.I love what I have chosen for my life's work. But sometimes, more often now than in the beginning of my career, there are far too many experts telling me how to do my job. And demanding proof that I am doing it. This week,  I am in the processing of completing my self-assigned professional reading: The Cafe Book by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser - better known as "The Sisters". Reading this book is helping me to find the balance between all the frenetic demands made on teachers today and a calm and purposeful learning experience for my students. Here is a quote from Debbie Miller that the Sisters included in their book (page 60) which caused me to sit up and take notice:

...when getting done takes precedence over the doing, when finishing becomes more important than the figuring out, we've lost sight of why we became teachers in the first place. (Miller, D. Teaching with intention: Defining beliefs, aligning practice, taking action, Grades K-5. (2008). Portland, ME: Stenhouse. p 106

As I read and reread Debbie Miller's words, I realized that this is what has been causing me unease with what I do. In the rush to turn in this, that, or the other evidence, I have lost my bearing: why I am a teacher. I chose to teach because I believe that it is important to give every child the opportunity to soar to heights neither of us imagined possible. I do this on a selfish level because, when that moment of connection happens, when child and teacher both realize that something wonderful has happened, it is the most exquisite of emotions that makes all the hard, hard work worth everything.This year, my personal goal as teacher, will be to refocus on why I teach, to not let outside forces undermine why my students and I are here, working together. And if I let some of those demands for evidence slip, if I'm late with something someone somewhere wants in order to show that I have been working, that is what will be.You can find me here in Room 207 helping my students figure out how to take the next step in their learning path.

Well, they are gone.... and summer vacation is started. How I feel like hoarding these precious days off. Honestly, I don't know how people who teach during summer school manage it. By the last day of school, I am so dead tired, it takes about 2 weeks to become human again.And usually, the start of summer vacation signals that I will come down with a major cold. This year was no exception. Now that this too has passed it's on to more interesting, non-teaching activities. And the thorough housecleaning that gets pushed aside as the demands of the school year become more and more intense.So far I've already completed a couple of landscaping projects: I needed a new spot for our charcoal grill, so I built this mini crushed stone area. Also finished weeding the pool area, the side patio, and repainted a bistro table.  It takes me a while to get used to just sitting :-)

Bumping Up

It's a rite of passage, I guess. Yesterday my third graders bumped up to meet their fourth grade teachers.  My students were pretty evenly distributed across the four  fourth grade classrooms so while they will see some familiar faces next Fall, they will have an opportunity to meet new friends.While my current kids were down the hallway, my "new" class came to the room to be introduced. There are 24 students currently on my list and, while I'm sure that number will change - hopefully not too much higher - the proof that the students change and grow throughout third grade was very apparent.  These kids looked (and acted) so much younger! Several children were so much shorter than my current students that the desks seemed gigantic; several chins just made it to the desktop.The incoming students have lots of questions - learning to multiply is definitely something they are anticipating with excitement. And writing in cursive, too. When they return to me on August 31, we will spend much of our first few weeks together learning signals and routines that make the management of a class more, well, manageable.  We will learn to become the community of learners that my current third graders have become.So while I was energized to meet some fresh faces - and perhaps a few new challenges - I was glad to spend another few hours with my grown up third graders. And to savor the changes that 180 days bring.