Two thoughts: this happiness fallacy reminds me of Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman. Hell, it’s probably in there.
And second, for me, all the racing and rushing and why are we even doing this gets erased when I imagine students far in the future, and know I have a stake in it. Do you have a way of reconnecting with your past students, now grown?
I run around now advocating for systems making these connections. The future: That’s much better accountability than one year of growth on a stupid test.
I’ve heard of Burkemsn‘s book, but I haven’t had a chance to read it yet. I’ll add it to my TBR pile. Thanks for the recommendation!
One way I keep in touch with students is through our district learning management system. Normally, at the end of every school year, the course shall restarts and students have no way of accessing their previous courses. I intentionally set up a separate course shell and keep it permanently open for students. They can message me any time from leaving my class in the fifth grade to their senior year. Every once in a while, I’ll get a message from a former student telling me about their experiences in middle school in high school. It’s always great to hear from them!
That's fantastic. And you shouldn't have to come up with a workaround to keep yourself available.
Here in NYC, there is a rampant (and misplaced) fear of violating FERPA by keeping students in touch with their former educators, or even having cross-system sharing of data for the toughest cases, where collaboration and relationships are so important. I wrote about the worst consequences of this disconnect, which forever haunt me, here: https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/71117444/dear-dean-magazine-may-june-22-2026/25
The reset summer offers is real. So is the wall you hit every fall. What would it take to build a school year that doesn’t require recovery to survive? Warm summer wishes to all hard working educators!
So many things! Many of which are outside of my control. This year, I’m going to focus on what I can control in my classroom too my school year doesn’t exhaust me so much.
This was well written. Your connection of Gatsby to summer and our work as educators was beautiful. As a school counselor, I am looking forward to summer AND next year
This was a fun post to read. It is nice to think about our striving in the Gatsby context and in the context of its famous em dash. Enjoy your recovery until we continue to row against the current in the fall again. I also intend to embrace the joy of the relational aspect of what we do under the pressure of those trying to standardize and measure it.
Enjoy that laconic reading and writing!
Two thoughts: this happiness fallacy reminds me of Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman. Hell, it’s probably in there.
And second, for me, all the racing and rushing and why are we even doing this gets erased when I imagine students far in the future, and know I have a stake in it. Do you have a way of reconnecting with your past students, now grown?
I run around now advocating for systems making these connections. The future: That’s much better accountability than one year of growth on a stupid test.
I’ve heard of Burkemsn‘s book, but I haven’t had a chance to read it yet. I’ll add it to my TBR pile. Thanks for the recommendation!
One way I keep in touch with students is through our district learning management system. Normally, at the end of every school year, the course shall restarts and students have no way of accessing their previous courses. I intentionally set up a separate course shell and keep it permanently open for students. They can message me any time from leaving my class in the fifth grade to their senior year. Every once in a while, I’ll get a message from a former student telling me about their experiences in middle school in high school. It’s always great to hear from them!
That's fantastic. And you shouldn't have to come up with a workaround to keep yourself available.
Here in NYC, there is a rampant (and misplaced) fear of violating FERPA by keeping students in touch with their former educators, or even having cross-system sharing of data for the toughest cases, where collaboration and relationships are so important. I wrote about the worst consequences of this disconnect, which forever haunt me, here: https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/71117444/dear-dean-magazine-may-june-22-2026/25
That’s a powerful piece! Thanks for sharing.
The reset summer offers is real. So is the wall you hit every fall. What would it take to build a school year that doesn’t require recovery to survive? Warm summer wishes to all hard working educators!
So many things! Many of which are outside of my control. This year, I’m going to focus on what I can control in my classroom too my school year doesn’t exhaust me so much.
Lovely essay!
Thank you! 🙏🏻
This was well written. Your connection of Gatsby to summer and our work as educators was beautiful. As a school counselor, I am looking forward to summer AND next year
Thank you! Enjoy your summer break.
This was a fun post to read. It is nice to think about our striving in the Gatsby context and in the context of its famous em dash. Enjoy your recovery until we continue to row against the current in the fall again. I also intend to embrace the joy of the relational aspect of what we do under the pressure of those trying to standardize and measure it.
Thanks!
That on/off cycle for teachers is no joke.