Graduation seems to always have this emotional effect on me that is rather neutral on the pendulum of emotions. I did not feeling great bouts of exhilaration nor did I plunge into the bowels of sadness but I did seemingly rest quite peacefully at being grateful at watching all of our grade 5's graduate at the Ontario Science Centre this afternoon.
I felt bittersweet because when we mark an end point there's always the journey that gets you there. And, it's this journey of 2011-2012 that brought with it many fond, frustrating and joyful moments. The traditional graduation video that is shown during the ceremony made me smile because the pictures, sounds and video brought back with it many funny and memorable moments.
I can't speak for others but I can only say that my 11th year of teaching officially came to an end during the middle of last week! I knew my time had expired when I totally lost control of my temper and did something that I don't normally do nowadays. I didn't hurt anyone but I wasn't very proud of what I did either. With the marking of the end of another year, we recognize that being at the school I'm at, it's an incredibly busy place! The rhythmic beat of the place is often so intense that it'd make Dorothy falling into a cyclone look like chump change [no joke!]. Teaching is an incredibly exhausting profession! And, although not manually intensive, your mental capacity is stretched and further challenged as the year goes on. In fact, there were/are many days where after dismissing my students at the end of the day, I could easily collapse for a much needed nap!
Despite the daily soap opera of student's and teacher's lives alike and the daily occurrences of teaching and everything that encapsulates that, I still love doing what I'm doing! And, there isn't any other profession out there that I would be doing at this very moment. There's never a dull moment or uneventful day at school. If there were, the school would quickly turn into the insane asylum of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest!
The slump hit when there were periods of drought and several specific kids were not on their "A" game whether that was behaviour, being on time for school, academic, peer relationships, or the combination of some or ALL of them {oh dear).
The grand slam victory would be the series of steps the students took from those early days of September to the end of June ~ whether that'd be in baby steps, trots or giant leaps!
The bitter comes in the "goodbye" I'm not ever good with those!. Having said this, I'm still thankful for the time I was given the great privilege to be their teacher...one of their gr. 5 teachers...I will miss them dearly!
I have great expectations for my students and I expect that they will do BIG things in life...I expect greatness from each of them & of course, I wish them nothing but success in their journeys ahead...
At the end of the day people won’t remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel - Maya Angelou
At the end of the year, it's been a tradition for my gr. 5 students to write a series of letters including one to me. I was curious to see what they wrote and having already had a couple of "crybaby" days at school, I was so close to unleashing again as I read over their words to me...Below is one that particularly touched me...
It isn't always important to know the immediate impact you have on a child because that may come a year, 2 months, a day or even 15 years down the road. What is important is to treasure each and every moment...
Calling it "another year"...& taking off the "teacher hat" for the summer (yeah right! Haha!),
-S.
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