Tabula Rasa

In T-minus seven days, I will be welcoming twenty-two cleanly scrubbed, curious, nervous, white tennis-shoed third graders into their new classroom. The smell of new crayons, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and what I like to call the "recess scent" will quickly be absorbed into our classroom walls and the cobwebs and stale summer air will be replaced.

This summer has provided me with the time to reflect upon last year and decide what I'd like to change for the upcoming year. One of the true joys and advantages of being in education, compared to many other professions, is that each August provides us with a clean slate, a "tabula rasa," not only for teachers, but for kids as well. I hope that the lessons I learned last year and the observations I've made throughout the past six years will help me to become a more effective teacher in this setting. So that, come spring when my slate isn't so clean anymore and the crayons are worn down, and maybe even broken, I can be proud of where we've come as a class and celebrate the accomplishments we've made.