So today was my last day of teaching. I leave for Baltimore next week. It was a very bitter-sweet day. It was also pretty easy. Mainly due to the fact that, because it was my last day, I found it very difficult to be as strict as I normally am. Don't get me wrong. The rules were still enforced. I just didn't stress out about it. The day started with an incident that, oddly enough, didn't even involve my club. There were three girls in another club that were running around. I told them to stop. They stopped briefly and then started up again. They were having some bizarre disagreement. I think the strangest thing of all is that they were looking for adult intervention and I was the only one around. They finally just walked over to me and told me their story. And it was a long one. I gave each one of them the opportunity to talk. Then, like Solomon, I rendered judgement. Basically, they were all guilty of something and they all owed each other apologies. And that was the end of that. Funny how that worked out. They just wanted to be heard. The boys were a little rambunctious today. Nothing out of control, but definitely more energy than usual. Partly because of normal Friday energy and partly because today was their last chance to test me. Now the other reason why today was made easier was because the other after school program was giving a presentation. So I only had to entertain the kids for about 40 minutes. I took them outside and we ran the drumming pieces and recitals for the Spring show. After about 3 runs of each, I gave them about 20 minutes of free time. I personally found it very strange that one of them chose that time to play with his Nintendo DS. On top of that, most of the other kids chose to watch him play it. Basically, they chose video games over exercise. The presentation was not so great, but it killed time. At the end of the day, my supervisor made a nice little speech in front of everyone thanking me for the job that I had done over the course of the school year. I made an effort to give a special unique send off message to each of the boys. I shook each one's hand and told them all I was very proud. There were definitely a couple of long faces. I guess that the whole thing hasn't really hit me yet. It just seems so weird that I won't be going back there for the rest of the school year. I guess I've been going for so long that it felt like just another Friday. Or maybe I'm just in denial. I did try to soften the blow by assuring everyone that I'd be back in the Fall. I can't honestly say if that's true or not, but if nothing pops up on the career front, I would definitely go back there. It's a very good school and they are good kids. (For the most part) They drove me crazy at times and at other times they made me very proud. I hoped they learned a lot from me and I've definitely learned a lot from them. I do regret that I wasn't able to stick with them until the very end. But I am confident that they are going to do great. And so will I.
Until next Fall.
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