Monday Re-Post: Surviving the End of the Year

This is a repost from 05/20/2014.

I made it to the end of a really rough year.  Too many students, not enough time, eating lunch during therapy, along with some tough meetings made this year the roughest in a long time.  I tried to remember these things to make it to the finish line:

1)  Keep to myself.  It's the end of the year, everybody's tired, and I let my guard down.  There have been years when my mouth has gotten me in trouble.  The best thing I can do is keep my head down, and hole myself in my room.  

2)  Lists, lists, lists.  I have to-do lists for my to-do lists!  Especially when I'm changing schools, which I'm doing for next year.  

3)  If you're changing schools, have things ready for the next person.  I make sure I have Screening Re-check Lists, lists of IEPs that will be due when school starts back up, notes on the students, and any other notes that I wish I had known for the next person.  I always try to leave the Speech Program better than when I found it.

4)  Just to reiterate #1, remember that everybody is tired and stressed.  If someone says something to you that isn't positive, don't take it personal.  It never fails:  I always forget how stressed everyone is, and inevitably I come across some tears.  (Not from something that I've said, but that someone else said.)

Monday, I said goodbye to a fantastic principal and a wonderful staff.  I get to keep my "mountain school", and will go back to where I was 2 years ago.  I am extremely excited to get to work with that staff again; that was the only school where I cried when I left.  I've been in a lot of schools over the past 29 years.

What are your tips for surviving the end of the school year?

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