The Finish Line

The end of school always looks the same. Students are visiting classrooms they may never have been to before to see what , oh what they can do to try and pull out a passing grade. Teachers are pulling out their old favorite assignments and showing "educational" movies.  Administrators start to amp up the punishments because they are tired of seeing the same kids over and over. Janitors move a little slower, secretaries start to get the giggles.

In my classes, I start to think about how early I can take down the bulletin boards, because I like to let students do that. Why do students get excited about using a staple puller? Beats me, but it sure saves me time and effort. This year, we'll be boxing up six bookshelves worth of books in the room I share with another teacher. Luckily, they don't have to move far. You can't start too early de-decorating the room because it makes the last week seem really unwelcoming. So you find other ways to let the students know you love them.

And I do. Love them, I mean. Even though I usually say that I don't want to see another teenager for at least two months (except my own, of course!), we teachers get tired because we care so much. We want these kids, some of whom have been in more homes this year than in classes in a day, to have somewhere stable. We want these kids, who know more about violence and foul language than about poetry and biology, to have open minds. We want these kids to succeed in a world that doesn't always want them. At the end of the year, you find out how many of the kids want the same things.

Those are the kids who come in to volunteer in your classroom because they've got straight "A"s, or the kids you see at the end of each day, madly making up papers, assignments and tests. It's the kids you don't see that worry me. The kids who are content to pass with a D, who barely squeak by, who aren't involved in school activities, who don't participate in class. I've had dreams about these kids. I've lost sleep altogether about these kids.

Always, by August, I'm ready to roll again. I'm ready to take on the impossible task of educating other people's children. I'm filled with ideas, plans, strategies! But right now, I'm just tired and ready for the last bell that sounds like: SCHOOL's OUT!