Fall Break

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October already? Time for Fall Break!! 

Where did the first quarter go?

Has it already been 8 or 9 weeks of school?

I can’t wait for the break to start!

Are you ready for parent/teacher conferences?

Do you have your report cards ready?

Are all of your grades posted?

Did you finish your assessments?

Did you get all of your data submitted?

Did you get your conference schedule made?

Do you have your lesson plans ready for after break?

Did you get copies made?

The list of questions and statements started out so positive! Everyone looks forward to getting a break from the classroom; students, teachers, and administrators. But then as the list of questions gets longer, the number of responsibilities and work that come along with the end of the quarter can be daunting. The first quarter flew by, but it seems like all we did was teach the kids how to be in school and how to get through all of the assessments.

Some districts in Arizona get one or two weeks of Fall Break. Don’t get me wrong, any break is well-deserved and needed, but one week doesn’t seem like enough sometimes. Depending on how your first quarter went, you may need the first week of the break just to recover from the first quarter of the school year. When talking to colleagues this year, it seems that most of my teacher friends just want to stay home, lay low and rest.

Rest is essential at this time of year. When the first quarter began, we were all excited to get started with hope and optimism. Now, the second quarter is about to begin and some of us are questioning what we actually got done during the first quarter. We may be feeling a little defeated that we haven’t met our first-quarter goals. We need this time during our break, to decompress, recharge, and maybe even get caught up.

A lot of people in the world think that teachers get so much time off of work, but really, we need this time to do this very difficult job to the best of our abilities for our students.

The list of responsibilities for teachers nearing the end of the quarter is overwhelming. Parent-teacher conferences, grades, plans, goal sheets, data, assessments, professional development, staff meetings, and actually teaching the students each day are just some of the items on the to-do list of teachers nearing the end of the quarter. When we reflect on the first quarter, maybe we need to make a list of the positive things we have done this quarter. My list may look a little different than yours. I am new to my role as an instructional coach, my school, and new to my district.

My list would include things like:

Creating positive relationships with the staff, students, families, and administrators

Implementing the new curriculum to the best of my knowledge and ability

Leaving feedback in classrooms daily

Getting into every teacher’s classroom at least once a week

Assisting teachers with data collection, small groups, interventions, and new curriculum

Finding resources for teachers and solving problems for other teachers

Even though the quarter flew by and the responsibilities are overwhelming, take a few minutes to celebrate yourself and your accomplishments. What are you celebrating at the end of this quarter?

Image from brownbagteacher.com

Sarah Kirchoff

Sarah Kirchoff is an instructional coach in Mesa Public Schools. She has over 20 years of experience in early childhood education. She began her teaching career way back in August 1999, when everyone was worried about Y2K. She did not even have computers in her classroom at that time! Since then, she has taught first grade for four years, preschool for three years, second grade for two years and kindergarten for twelve years. She has worked for three different school districts during her teaching career. During this time, she has been able to identify which grade she found to be the most enjoyable. Her greatest teaching passion is for kindergarten. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Arizona State University and a master’s degree in Elementary Education from Northern Arizona University. She was teacher of the year at her school in the 2019-2020 school year. She became a National Board Certified Teacher as an Early Childhood Generalist in December of 2020. She currently serves on numerous committees at her school including school site council, the instructional leadership team, and the culture and climate team. She is a mentor teacher at her school and has mentored numerous interns and student teaching candidates. When she is not busy with school commitments, she spends time with her family. She has a husband who is also a teacher, and four children. Two of which are students at NAU and two that are in high school. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, reading books and spending time with family, friends and her two dogs. Children need a teacher that is always advocating for them, socially, emotionally, and academically. Sarah wants every student she encounters to realize their potential and she is willing to help in any way she can. The impact early childhood educators have on students reaches far beyond their younger years. Sarah wants to leave a positive impact on her students so they can continue to have wonderful educational experiences beyond her classroom and school.