End of Year Approaching Fast

"As this time of year comes when we bring to a close one more school
year, no doubt, we think of dreams -- the dreams we had back in the
fall for our students, the dreams we had for making this our best year
of teaching yet, the dreams of accomplishing something--big or small--
that others gave us little chance of accomplishing.

We see students graduate who were given little chance when they began,
yet we have walked along beside them as they toiled day after day
along the often lonesome road of achievement. They overcame many
obstacles put in their way so they could, eventually, realize this
singular bright and shining moment that we call "graduation."
Commencement is, after all, well named, for it represents a beginning
-- a new and fresh beginning -- a validation that past efforts have
yielded positive momentum for a brighter future." - Larry Anderson, ADE listserv

How can someone read this and not be inspired to write something? I realized this morning that I have until Wednesday to say everything I feel the need to say to the seniors. I have until next Wednesday to motivate the younger high school students to get through the summer and be excited to come back in the fall. And the irony? I am already planning for the fall. I am already planning what I need to do this summer to get ready for the fall. I am excited about the new beginning. I am generating new ideas for the classes I will teach. I am already thinking of how to revamp lessons I have taught in the past. I am already laying out the classroom, putting things away in my mind in their new locations. I haven't even gotten to the end of this year!

As I look back in time, I can remember the years when there was a change and the excitement I felt. I can look back to the first teaching job and getting ready for those first days. I can also look back and see myself when I was changing jobs and getting ready to teach junior high English. I can look back at the excitement of change when I added my 8th grade affective skills class and the 8th grade newspaper class. I can look back at the year when I switched schools again and began teaching high school English and being the technology coordinator. A couple of years later I found a new passion when I stopped teaching English and beginning to teach dual-credit computer classes. Another year later, when I was less than satisfied with teaching computers, I found my focus working toward a laptop initiative. Now I am making a change again and this time focusing back on high school English.

But the constant in all of these exciting changes if obvious... a new challenge. New material to think about. New lessons to design and new students to plan for. So many people say that they hate change. They don't want to change, they don't care if they try anything new. These people would be happy teaching the same lesson 22 years in a row. Evidently I am not that person. I thrive on the challenge of something new. I love to work with new material. I love to try designing new lessons and topics of study that the students will embrace, change into their own, and become motivated. Kids thrive on change as much as I do. They don't like to do the same old thing any more than I do. They get excited when we do something challenging. They might have to work harder, but it is easier to get excited about something that is not busy work. What changes can you enact in your classroom this fall to get excited about? How do you become motivated?