A thousand things begin to go through your mind shortly after July 4th when you are a high school department chair. Schedules, class sizes, materials, textbooks, new teachers, retiring teachers, new administrators, new duties, projectors, printers, computers, enough desks and chairs for each room! Where does the “to do list” end?

As most teachers “roll over, and go back to sleep” in the early to mid-July time frame, department chairs are often in the beginning stages of “school mode”. That is a phrase my wife uses when I begin to drift off into a fugue state where my mind is racing with things that I need to work on when I return to school before my teachers do. I believe that “school mode” gets triggered with the first of the school supplies that hit the store shelves in early July. I usually start with buying a new planner for the school year. (although this is quickly being replaced by an online tool)

My first days back in school usually happen in early August, so that I have time to check on things.

I begin to make lists like crazy. I have about 15 people in my department that teach a total of 20 courses. I start my summer with a quick inventory of what we have on hand. I try to ask each teacher to anticipate needs for the coming school year.

Each teacher has needs, each teacher’s classroom has needs, each course has needs. I start with how many sections of each course are running and think about books, projectors, document cameras. Those are the items that I need to make sure are in-house and ready when school starts. These are the big money item and can take the longest to reach the building (like furniture).

I usually bring my tool kit to school in those early days of August. Sometimes I can fix a wobbly leg, or loose desk top with a little glue, and a screwdriver. We have some heavy resin-topped lab tables that seem to take a beating when the custodial crew gets through with the summer cleaning. I have fixed quite a few broken table legs.

If the schedule is done, I start looking at class numbers, and the schedule of the department members. I look for class sizes, common planning time, and start to think about the observation calendar. I would like to think that I can contribute to some small changes but this usually depends on when the schedule is ready and if the scheduling AP is open to a few small tweaks.

Once school starts for teachers my life is a whirlwind of activity. There is little time for repairs, inventory, and analyzing the schedule.