Happy 100th Day!

[Editor’s note: No-sleep-till-Brooklyn is the pseudonym for a second-year kindergarten teacher in Brooklyn.]

I came into school on Monday loaded down with heaps of materials to aid our celebration of the 100th day of school — a crucial day in kindergarten. Throughout the day we focused solely on the number 100. We made clever color patterns with 100 Tuttie Fruities on a 100s chart, and we then transferred those patterns to string, forming edible necklaces. We read “100 Hungry Ants” and counted by 2’s, 5’s, 10’s, 25’s and 50’s to 100. We jumped 100 times. We stayed silent for 100 seconds. We recorded our 100th day wish for 100 of something, and we made eyeglasses out of the number 100. We had an outstanding day.

Did I once have to worry about behavior management? Did I once have to remind students to focus? Did I once have to stop teaching and wait for their attention? No, no, and no! A day to go down in history! What a magnificent day.

Every time such a wonderful day happens I just have to wonder — why can’t I make every day so appealing, so hands-on, so FUN? I’ll tell you why, and I know because I’ve struggling with this issue before: the hours of planning that precede a seamless day of learning. Right now, I am struggling to find a balance between my very own life and teaching.

Last year, during my first year of school, all I thought about was lesson planning. I was overly concerned and flipping out, every night spending two or more hours preparing for the following day. What book should we read during guided reading? Who do I meet with? How do I introduce writing how-to books? What will spark my students’ interest? Do my students already know about nickels and dimes? How do I find out? How do I transition from one subject to another without my students running around tables and leaping over chairs? When do I take them for a bathroom break and what do the other students do during that time?

So many questions kept me up late at night trying to plan a seamless day. News: that seamless day never happened. Just the opposite — last year was full of snags.

This past year, back in September, I vowed to get my life back. Lesson plans may or may not go seamlessly, but in order to keep my sanity, I needed something to look forward to instead of going home to plan lessons. I am currently taking classes for my masters, spending more time with long-lost friends, and trying to maintain an active lifestyle. I feel like a healthy and happy human being but at the cost of cutting the time I devote to lesson-planning.

Where is the balance? In order to be a spectacular and effective teacher, do I have to start trimming out parts of my own spectacular life?

Halfway through the school year, my second year of teaching, and I still struggle to figure this profession out. 84 more days to figure it out.