It's that time of the school year again. The end? Well, sort of.

Somewhere between the English-teacher-end-of-the-semester-sleep-deprivation and helping with graduation, I start thinking about next (school) year. My husband wonders about me this time of year, when I stagger to the kitchen between batches of final essays and murmur to myself..."Next year I will not (or will)...."

Sitting at my classroom desk (something I only do before school starts and and the end of the year), I start to sort through the remnants of the year, debating what to throw away and what to keep. Which lesson plans are worth recycling? Which student papers do I want to use as examples or study closer? What do to with all those poster boards and displays? Hey, here are those articles I put aside to read later!

By next week, I'll start going through this year's teaching journal and doing more systematic reflection on what worked, what didn't, and why. I'll replay the school year, literally and mentally, measuring it against my original vision. Since so much of my work, including student writing, is now digital, I'll spend considerable time reviewing, archiving, organizing and deleting.

I sort through invitations to various educational conferences, summer courses, and seminars. Of course, any of these I choose to attend, I'll have to pay for out-of-pocket, including travel. Maybe it'll be a tax deduction later. The big question is will any of them help me do better by my students?

Students. I think about them, and wonder how well I've served them this time around. I'll read their end-of-course evaluations, again, and try to see what they're not telling me. This is a small town, so I'll see many of them and their families over the summer at various events and venues. "Oh, my child loved your class!" Coulda fooled me.

I'll start selecting the pieces we'll read, the topics about which we may write, and the projects we'll attempt. I'll adjust my classroom organization: recordkeeping, daily procedures, classroom policies.

The next school year will be running through my head like a movie trailer while I finally get around to what should have been Spring cleaning.

Yep, it's time for summer vacation.