three weeks left

There are three weeks left of school. 

As this is (probably) my last year teaching, I'm getting... honestly, a little sad? I'm not leaving teaching because of all of the pervasive issues in the education system, I'm leaving teaching because I never actually intended to be a teacher (someone does NOT have an education degree) and life changes sometimes and also I'm a job-hopper. These past few weeks, months, I've felt really good about my classroom management and ability to make relationships and all of that jazz. So let's talk about some good moments this year.

The seventh graders read Okay for Now, and while last year's kids didn't like it as much, the discussions that came out of this book with this set? Oh man. These kids did so goddam good. Same with tenth grade and Beartown. I had three girls crying, and because they were invested in the book. 

Juniors and seniors. Juniors are historically a difficult class academically. Half of the class was gone; I told them that, if we went through these poems and they participated and paid attention, I'd make the questions extra credit. They did. I made the questions extra credit. A couple of the kids did them anyway; my favorite was a kid who said, as he typed up the last few answers, "I don't even know why I'm doing these. I have a hundred and one percent." 

These graduating seniors I do enjoy. They were sophomores when I started teaching. It'll be nice to see them graduate. Creative Writing has been a fun class. I'm growing as a DM. It's a good time. 

But nothing gold can stay.