It is the night before the last day of school for the 2010-2011 school year and I am sitting here surrounded by papers. I just spent a few hours at Starbucks grading, grading, grading, till I closed the place down. I still have a ton to do, but I thought I'd reflect on the week, month, school year for just a moment or two.
I'll be honest: it was a really hard, frustrating year. I thought I had a few tough kids last year, but it was a cake walk compared to some of my class from this year. Instead of focusing on that mess (which I had to for most of the year) I need to focus on the really good stuff. You know, the stuff that reminds you why you do what you do.
1. All of the last week of school is spent on dressing up for different themes. (much like high school "spirit week.") Today was "Idol Day" - to which we laughed about dressing up like a "golden calf." Har de har har. I dressed up as Ramona Quimby. She is pretty rad.
One of my 3rd grade girls dressed up as President Barack Obama. In a sea of Hannah Montanas and Taylor Swifts and little girls in booty shorts, my little one was dressed up as the president with a tie and her dad's old cell phone. I couldn't have been more proud. I don't want to forget about the good kids that often were not focused on as much as my discipline and academic issue students.
One of my 3rd grade girls dressed up as . . . me. Yeah, I got pretty teary there. Really all it came down to was sticking a big ol' flower in her hair and calling herself "Mrs. Bickel." But everyone got it and I just hugged the living daylights out of her. I really needed that. I needed to see that I'm not just the "mean" teacher, but I am appreciated. Just a little bit. What a sweetie pie.
Field Day (Wednesday) can be quite a blessing - I get to see my old students that have moved on to the older grades, which so much fun. But really, my class from last year, when they came to my station, all started running and just about knocked me over with hugs. I was so glad to see them - they were such an awesome, talented, sweet class - even my "tough" ones were happy to see me! Talking to one of the 4th grade moms, she said her son came home so excited to get "lots of hugs from Mrs. Bickel." Hey, if I can get a 4th grade boy to give me hugs, I think I'm a winner.
So I'll keep slugging through this mess of grading. I will laugh at the statement that "Mercury is actually bigger than it appears from Earth" on a research report. I will take a deep breath and move on. I will finish my grading, go to school and be ready for my final day of the school year. I will hug all my kids and tell them how proud I am of them, because in reality, they have improved and they're better leavin' than they were comin' in. I'll give "I'll miss you" hugs to the ones that I had fun with and I'll give "I'm glad you're going into 4th grade" hugs to the ones that made my days tough.
And just like every year, after they're all gone and they've taken every last art project and writing assignment and workbook we almost finished, I will sit quietly in my chair that I didn't get to sit quietly in all year and I'll take 5 minutes just to think about me having an end, with a new beginning waiting for me in September.
And I will start praying to the Great Enrollment Gods that I can dodge a few of those 2nd grade students that I know are tough and pray pray pray that I won't have them.
I did not pray enough last summer. It was a rough rough year.
**Next time, I have pictures. I swear.**
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