Abbott Elementary: Development Week was a Mess!

Note: I know I’m a week late on this review. Blame it on the back-to-school season where all you can do is work-sleep-work for the first month.

Abbott Elementary is back, and all is right in our world. Last week teachers around the country let out a sigh of relief as their favorite teachers: Jeanine, Barbara, Ava, Gregory, Jacob, and Melissa all returned with a new school year starting in Philadelphia.

While so many things are the same- lack of supplies, Central Office making it difficult for teachers to teach; there are other things happening that are blowing our minds.

First, Janine broke up with Tariq. Note: Did you see him leaving her apartment with his things in hand, blasting the music? I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Second, Gregory is now a full-time teacher who is TIED (and yes, I mean TIED) to his elaborate curriculum map- win, lose or fail.

And just like the first day of school in ALL schools, staff took the summer to recharge, get out of their teacher personas, and had FUN. At Abbott Elementary, the staff did the same by sowing their oats by:

• Barbara took a cruise and got inebriated.
• Jacob took level 1 ASL classes.
• Gregory spent the summer planning for his students.

Melissa spent the summer at the Jersey Shore with the vending machine guy from season 1.

With all that goodness happening, things are bound to go well- in the perfect world, and we all know schools do not operate in them.

First, while Janine has been trying to smile through her breakup, she’s now having money problems. Melissa is feeling the crunch of the teacher shortage and has to combine her 2nd and 3rd-grade students for one mega class. Barbara does not have a desk to outfit her student who is differently abled. Gregory is struggling with adapting to the curriculum, and Jacob is just Jacob.

While all the situations are eventually solved (think Janine having a breakdown in the school parking lot). It showed that teachers are not only the G.O.A.T. but

• sometimes we need to be able to lean on our co-workers to make it day to day
• seriously we need to pay teachers more
• why are we asking teachers to combine classes due to teacher shortages

Memorable Quotes

• “Everything is chaos, and we all lose.”- Gregory
• “President Joey B is going to cancel that debt any day now.” Jacob
• “We may not be able to do it all, but we can do what we can.” Barbara

In the end, it looks like Abbott Elementary is going to make us cry and laugh ALL season long!