The end of the school year is quickly approaching and the excitement and exhaustion is taking its toll on everyone!  Teachers are feeling more and more exhausted and less and less patient and students are becoming more and more talkative and less and less focused. While viewing my “TimeHop App” for today, I saw my post from nine years ago that said, “You know it’s the end of the school year when you fantasize about how relaxing it would be to be in jail instead of at work.”  My non-teacher friends will never be able to understand the terrible end-of-the-year-tired that each of us has to get through, but those of us who teach or have taught completely understand. So, in honor of End-of-the-Year-Teacher-Tired, here is today’s  list!

What I will NOT be doing over summer break:

I am not getting up before sunrise! (unless I need to catch a plane to some wonderful location for a vacation!)  Let’s face it, we drag these children out of bed way too early to go to school. No one should be headed to school before the sun is up!

 I will not be setting out my clothes the night before so I can rush out the door to go anywhere. Oh, and most days I’ll just be choosing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt or blouse.

I will not give a second thought to writing any lesson plans. (I am retiring, but in past years I would set aside time to write lesson plans over the summer to get ahead of the game. The longer I taught, the less I actually did over the summer. If you are a teacher, give yourself a break from all school work! You’ve earned it!)

I will not be getting that nasty upset stomach on Sunday nights because I’m dreading any bad classes on the next day! Once May hits, you actually just dread getting out of bed at 4:30 or 5:00 a.m. again…not just if you have a bad class.

I won’t be jumping through hoops to say everything that I have to say in positive terms so that I don’t hurt someone’s feelings! For the summer I can just trust my own sense of tactfulness and right vs. wrong.

I won’t be eating a gross, dry “extreme wellness wrap” for lunch every day since I won’t have to be up at 5:00 a.m. to create said lunch. It will be nice to relax and have more time to create a healthy and delicious lunch.

I will not be reading professionally themed books. I’ll take something funny, a bestseller, or a good murder mystery…but keep the Classrooms That Work type books for August-May.

I will not be attending any meetings that are completely unrelated to me…or could have been put in an email. I will be going to church meetings, lunch meetings, poolside meetings, beach meetings, and shopping trips, but no more staff meetings for the summer.

I will not have to go to bed while the sun is still up just to try to recharge my physical and emotional batteries. During the whole month of May I’m torn between having a life and doing fun things in the evening and going to be at 7:00 pm so I won’t feel tired and angry all day!  Oh, and just to make you feel better, please know that I choose the extra sleep so I can be as pleasant as possible.

I will not be continuing my countdown!  I’m mean really, who would count down the days of summer that are left before the return to work?!? I can understand counting down until summer break, Christmas break, spring break, etc, but I will have to draw the line and counting down to the return to work. It’s just not going to happen.

I’m sure my list will grow longer as the summer progresses, but for now, those are my 10 things that I won’t be doing on my summer break! I hope that all of my teacher friends can finish strong this year. Just know you are not alone in your physical, mental and emotional exhaustion! Let’s pull together and cheer each other on as we lunge towards the finish line!!!

Listfully yours,

Vicki