Be Nice to Teachers in February

Today is March 1st.  Thank the Lord, we survived February.  For twenty-one Februaries, I have not been able to articulate what makes it the hardest month of the school calendar, but it is.  One would think that it would be December or May because of exams and holidays, but it isn't.  It's February.  If you have teacher friends in your life, ask them what February is like.  I call it February Fever.

 I can't explain it for everyone, but here's my best explanation for my own fever. 

I am in the heart of my curriculum.  It's not an introduction or a wrapping up.  Because of this, students are the most in need of help.  My eighth grade is just starting to experience that math is the language of science. 

I am either beginning or wrapping up a project in all of my classes.  For my 8th grade, they turn in their NASA essays on the Friday closest to Presidents' Day; my physics students begin their Free Choice Project presentations on the Tuesday after Presidents' Day.  Theoretically, that is supposed to mean I don't have to do lesson planning for physics while I am grading the NASA essays.  What it really means is that the day I finish the essays, I begin grading the physics projects.  It is also when I introduce Global Solutions in physics.  I imagine that this item is true for most teachers.  I went into the library on Thursday and found three teachers of Freshman with the media specialist hovering over an organizational chart, planning the Manor Faire.  The teacher next door to me has just collected the second draft of lab reports on plant growth, and his anatomy students finally finished cat dissection last week.  One of our English classes finish the Voices Around the World reading and gallery during February as well.  It's not that we all try to do these things at the same time.  It's because third quarter is the time when we have taught enough to start doing activities that require a lot of time and knowledge.

I am a yearbook teacher, and the deadline structure puts deadline 3 (always the hardest one to meet for some reason) in the second week of February and our final deadline during the second week of March.  That means most of February involves ad placements, tracking down new students who weren't here for picture day, making sure all the photos are tagged so we can meet our coverage goals, and having the pages with all the names and portraits proofed several times (and, still, we don't catch them all). 

Students seem to be suffering from their own version of February fever.  In North Carolina, this the time of the worst weather.  We get a tiny amount of snow, usually in February, and a ton of rain.  Even when it isn't raining, the sky is overcast for most of the month.  Winter sports are ending, and spring sports are about to begin.  Some colleges issue "early" acceptances (which you can pretty much read now as "regular" acceptance because I think more students do it at this time now), and that leads to several weeks of battling seniors feeling like they are done.

February also seems to be the season for Friday night activities.  Two Fridays in a row, I have attended fundraising dinners for both the camp and the school I work for.  This coming Friday is the school play. 

Please understand that I am not complaining about any of this.  I have the best job on the planet, and I want to do all of these things.  My point is this.  If you know a teacher, be especially nice to them in February.