Hurricane End-of-School Year

     I think we all know what the end of the school year is like for teachers.  It is a whirlwind of grading, activities, parties, more grading, and continuations/graduations/any-kind-of-ations.  This blog post has been on my to do list for going on a month now, but of course the 40 essays and 54 finals I had to grade, the 40 report card comments I had to write, the talent show I had to plan, and the graduation speeches I had to write took precedence.

     After the chaos of the end of the school year subsided I was granted a moment to reflect.  This year was a huge year for the school at which I work.  The school was founded 10 short years ago, and this year we were able to see our first ever graduating class of 8th graders.
     The class of graduating students was comprised of just 14 kids: 6 girls and 8 boys.  These 14 students also happened to be the first group of kids that I ever taught almost 6 years ago when I first started teaching.    

     It was such an honor to see those kids, who I had seen grow up from the age of 9 to 14 or 15, graduate and head on to many amazing high schools.  When I finally had that moment to reflect I remembered, in spite of grading almost a hundred papers, writing a few dozen report card comments, speeches, and organizing an all school event in the span of three days, this job is worth it.  That is why I do what I do on both fronts: because teaching is extremely rewarding emotionally, but needs more rewards financially.
     And so, just week one week out of school for the year, I am already planning an anxiously awaiting the next school year in August.  I hope you all are feeling the same!