By: Matt Moulton and Karen Weller

CAMLE

Sure, the hallways are quiet now. But, wait a second. What is that? A solitary locker slam reverberates down the hall. The echo burrows into your ears,  grabs hold of your senses and can only mean one thing. Can you hear it? It is the sound of the sixth graders bolting down the hallway at speeds unimaginable. Can you smell it? It is Axe Body Spray doing a poor job of covering up growing bodies. Do you feel it? The discarded sheets of paper or charger cords preparing to be tripping hazards. Can you taste it?The phantom lingering of school lunch Crispitos chased by Tums. Can you feel it? The heat contained in an expo marker that has just been pried from the grip of a student writing on a mini-whiteboard. This can only mean one thing... It is time to go back to school.

We love Ted Lasso. He’s goofy, honest, genuine and brings out the best in his coaching of theRichmond team. Ted struggled at times to coach a sport he knew nothing about but had an open mind and was ready to learn. He also brought what he did know and asked the coaching staff to trust his decisions. As we as teachers go back to the middle school for either your first year, your last year or somewhere in-between. He is a little Lasso humor to get you started.

It is time to get in touch with yourschool bff and dust off that backpack. In honor of back to school, we wanted to inject a little bit of levity into your day. Here are 10 ways to tell it is timefor back to school.

10 Ways to Tell It is Time for Back to School

10. The Christmas decorations are out at Costco.

9. The back-to-school opening session speaker isn’t Ted Lasso.

8. The new principal has officially/unofficially started sending emails.

7. There is another NEW student cell phone policy in the news.Like this one from right here inColorado that includes a locked pouch.

6. The first–grade COVID students are now 6th graders and Open House night is right around the corner.

5. You have subconsciously started to train your bladder to account for limited bathroom access.

4. All the things you pushed off in May are knocking at your door.

3. You find yourself overly excited about the “Back to School” sales and have more highlighters and sticky notes than you know what to do with.

2. You catch yourself giving the “teacher look” to misbehaving kids at the grocery store.

1. You notice your social media feeds and email inboxes ( ̄\_(ツ)_/ ̄) are full of countdowns to the first day of school and memes about savoring the last days of freedom.

So, as you prepare to return to the classroom in August, just remember that each new year has challenges, surprises, laughter and tears (mostly in the girl’s bathroom). Like Ted Lasso, be an example of optimism, genuine leadership and allow all those around you to be their best selves.

"If you would have told me that I'd be drinking tea at 3 o'clock every day, about a year ago...I would have punched you in the mouth."—Ted Lasso

Cheers!

Matt and Karen