Fight the Slide

The human sense of time simply amazes me! We ask for the week to move tremendously fast and then find ourselves very upset when the weekend ends just as quickly. As educators we are often asked to reflect on the reasons why we wanted to teach. “To inspire,” one might say. “To allow students to have an opportunity that I never had,” might say another. The list could go on and on and… Yet, when the calendar turns to September we can’t wait until our first break, most likely Thanksgiving. From there it’s the quick turnaround to Christmas break, semester exams, so on and so forth.

But when do we, the ones who want to inspire, ever ask for time to slow down? You will rarely find an educator asking if we can keep extra days in the schedule, so the students don’t get rusty, instead of a long break.

At this time of the year we are fighting the “senior slide.” The dreaded time when the most upper classmen will shut off, for they’ve been accepted to college or have their post-secondary plans secured. While the seniors begin to shut down, they begin to pull the other students down with them. Yet, it is our responsibility to rise above the dreaded slide. And it is in this time when, rather than looking for the light at the end of the tunnel, we must realize how the tunnel was constructed; how we were able to set foot in the tunnel; and how we can engage these minds to realize all that still surrounds them prior to succumbing to the light.

It is a test of wills and a test against human nature. It is a time for us, the educators, the individuals who hope to inspire and reach the unreachable; to reflect on those specific reasons of why we chose this profession. What, in these last 30 days, are we able to provide these students? Don’t settle for the slide; raise your level of expectations to meet your original desire to inspire!

Principalcoach