Another year is over

Breathe in some more tiny pink perfection

The school year ends today.  I will say goodbye to 28 students who have come to mean so much to me.  Some of them will come back and visit me.  Some will move on without a backward glance. Some are ready to move on.  Some did not find what they needed (or thought they needed) in my classroom.  It has been a good year.  It’s also been a hard year.  I had challenging students, needy students, bored students, and students who struggled to keep up.  I tried to meet them all where they were and move them forward.

Being a teacher means that I am as hard on myself as I am on my students.  I want them to move forward and grow and do their best.  I expect no less from myself.  I struggle to move forward, to grow, to always do my best.  At the same time, I recognize that I can not do it all.  I can’t accomplish every teaching goal I have this year.  I can’t improve everything at once.  I can’t solve all my problems immediately.  I need to allow myself time and space to develop as a teacher.  It is not an easy task — messing with kids’ lives makes it all seem very urgent.  Making a typo isn’t that big a deal in the “real” world but when I make a typo, 28 students think that’s the RIGHT way to spell that word and my mistake is magnified.  But, no one is perfect and we all need a little break.

So, summer is my break.  There is a summer goals meme floating around the Edusphere right now.  My summer goals are as follows:

1. Write.  Write.  Write.  Write.
2. Finish my kitchen/dining room.
3. Finish my backyard.
4. Get my house under control.
5. Take advantage of the luxury of planning for next year since I know what I’ll be teaching (4th grade).
6. Relax as much as possible.
7. Spend time with my family.
8. Try to get something published outside of my blog!
9. Take care of all the doctor, dentist, vet, etc appointments my family has been putting off.
10. Start exercising with something approaching regularity.

I know for a fact that 10 goals are about 5 too many but there you are.  My summer goals.  Sounds like a fun summer.  I still have one more day to go in and be a teacher — cleaning my classroom and checking out for the year.  But, Saturday morning, I turn off my alarm clock and I’m done with that noise until the end of August.

(I’ll still be the first one up most mornings, I’m sure!)

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