Beginnings

By Mark Nepper

“Ok, let’s get started!”

Every school year, every day before every class I either said or thought these words.

They marked a beginning, signaling it was time to get going. I often thought of the mantra as starter’s call to runners before a race. “Runners take your mark.” Poised and on the mark, knowing everything would soon become hectic, the words prepare you to focus on the action ahead.

On the first day of school, after saying “OK, let’s get started,” we would, indeed, get started, begin the process of establishing routines, developing a community, moving into the exciting realm of learning. And, yes, it really would be exciting.

My mom, a lifelong teacher, always said teachers have a unique job. Every school year they have the opportunity for a new beginning, to start completely over, to improve on the previous year, to make it better, to teach the children more effectively. I always went into the start of a new year with a heavy dose of excitement and just a bit of anxiety.

Forrest Gump may have said it best: “You never know what you’re going to get.”

Some years all of your classes gel quickly. You get to walk into thriving communities every day. Laughter abounds. Students show an eagerness to learn. The classroom vibrates with exchanges of ideas, questions, responses, debates, quips, non sequiturs, personal anecdotes. I would sometimes stand back and just smile at what transpired. Students would often leave class at the end of the hour still emphatically debating a discussion point from class. They may share perspectives on a theory or a character’s perplexing actions. Some might grumble about the assignment for the next class. It all feels right.

Some years that really does happen.

In the difficult years you wrestle with communities that may never really gel. Students unique issues make the classroom a difficult place for them, so they create challenges. Controversy may engulf your school. Your administrators may impose new and demanding dictates that place heavy burdens on your shoulders. Intense parental pressure may bring frustrations. Personal issues may make it seem impossible to face students on a daily basis.

Those are hard years.

Every school year presents its own unique set of circumstances. As a teacher you have to roll with whatever comes your way. You have to make the best of it. And you do. That’s what teachers do.

In recent days many students and educators across the country stood on the starting line, ready to run the 20–21 race, but all of the rules have changed. They are encountering parameters that will test them on a daily basis. They will feel unfamiliar pressures and face their own anxiety. They will contend with their own judgments about their performance, which likely will overshadow the judgments of administrators, parents, the community.

Teachers will draw support from their colleagues; they will hear words of praise from administrators, parents, the community. No matter. They will still entertain doubts.

After these first few days and weeks of starting what is essentially a new job with a new definition of expectations, they will find that they are creating communities, they are creating connections with their students, they are sharing knowledge, they are teaching.

I hope they always remember that they are doing a good job. (This song by Alicia Keys presents that inspirational message.)

For the first time I am not joining my colleagues in this beginning. As I begin retirement, I miss that excitement of the start. I now navigate my own new beginning and search for a new identity; my heart remains with educators. I will give them all the support and encouragement I can. Their work makes a difference in the world.

Some people have suggested I take up volunteering, or write a book, or go fishing.

Words form in my mind. And I smile.

“OK, let’s get started.”