Here. We. Go.

Tomorrow, September 9th, is the first day of school.

The classroom is clean, the bulletin boards await creative student work,  and new binders await my students. Are they as nervous as I am? Will I make a great first impression? Will I remember everything on my lesson plans without saying, uhhhhh...uhhhhh... too much?

I hope so.

Being that I am a runner, I say some last words of encouragement before I start a long, hard race, and they are: Here we go.

Teaching is very similar to running a race: you have to plan out your training runs well in advance (unit plans), you have to plan for emergencies (school sicknesses), you have to be in top physical shape (know the material), and you have to be able to run the entire race without stopping to use the bathroom  (this is the same for teaching!). After the race, you need to reflect on what worked, what didn't, and how I can improve for the next time I start another race.

As it's now an appropriate "teacher bedtime," I say these last words to kick off the race of the year: Here. We. Go.