One of the many things I love about teaching is being given a clean slate each September. I will be given new students who will have varying expectations of me and whose presence will create different group dynamics in classes I have taught previously. I will have a new timetable that will shape my day for the next 10 months.
Come September, I have the renewed opportunity for introspection and to put into practice lessons learned from the previous year. I can also shed practices and habits that did not work.
As summer holidays end, I am both excited and invigorated by the trust given to me to help students become competent and confident young adults.
What do students feel about the start of the academic year?
Students also look forward to the renewed opportunity they are presented with each academic year. Almost all students I surveyed were replete with good resolutions that centred around "getting better grades", "being more organised" and "getting homework done on time".
Jean Louis Desgouttes, who starts his International General Certificate of Secondary Education course at the French International School, is excited to meet his classmates after a long summer break. He is also keen to meet new students and hear of their experiences from previous schools and places they have lived. However, he is clearly concerned about his academic performance and expresses trepidation over "the time it takes to tank up my brain after relaxing for so long".
