Some thoughts about the start of the new school year:

The start of a new school year is always a combination of wistfulness (Where did summer vacation go so quickly?) and anticipation. But our first day Friday consisted of 7 hours of meetings with district administrators, building administrators and area supervisors, and it was so deadly as far as being boring and useless that it put a damper on the start of the school year.

Because of my reputation, my students tend to come to my classes in a bit of shock, a situation which actually makes my job as a motivator and disciplinarian much easier. Thus I am thankful to all my former students for spreading tales about how difficult my classes are, haha.

Five seniors this year are “doubling up” in my AP Calculus and AP Statistics–those lucky kids! What will make their year even better is that my two classes are back-to-back, so they get to have 88 consecutive minutes of me every single day of the school year! ☺

I have been chatting a bit with some of last year’s seniors who started college this year, and one of them commented to me, “High school was so much easier!” When students work so hard in high school to get into the most competitive college programs, sometimes they do not realize how challenging those programs will be. That is why I try to maintain such a high level for my advanced placement seniors so that the high school to college transition will be a bit less traumatic for them. I know they are not thrilled that I do it, but in the long run I believe it is beneficial to them.