The day after Labor Day. The day NYC teachers traditionally return to work. For the first time in a quarter century, I'm not one of them.

It's weird.

Instead, I'm in the second week of Hunter College's fall semester. So far so good on that front. I'm getting to know my students, planning activities and overall having a good time.

But, I do have to reflect on some of the things I'm not going to get to do this week:

I'm not going to have the opportunity to be blindsided by a CS schedule made without consulting me or any other CS teacher and having to work frantically to fix it so that the CS teachers have the programs and rooms they want.

I'm not going to be able to have that panic attack when the NFS/NIS server isn't working and no one can log in.

I'm not going to sit through a mindless faculty meeting where nothing is really ever accomplished.

More seriously, I am going to miss seing my friends and colleagues after the summer and Thursday - the day the kids get back is always a thrill and I'm going to miss that.

In a way, I'm experiencing a version of what retired teachers go through. Many teachers retire in June but it's not until after Labor Day when the change really sinks in.

Soon, I'll start posting CS teaching content again but for today, I want to tip my cap to all the public school teachers in NY that are going back to work today and who will shortly be teaching their five classes of thirty four kids each [fn:: also tipping my cap to my favorite TJ teacher who's students are back today. I got called to task for failing to mention her on my facebook shoutout.].