End of the Year

I love teaching.  I love the fact that there is a beginning, middle and an end to my job.

That being said, the end of the year wears.me.out.!

To begin with, it would be easier to keep track of who is in class than who is absent.  Everyone is absent.  There are track meets, tennis meets, softball games, baseball games, golf meets, field trips, state music competitions, high honor roll trips, etc., etc., etc.!

Thus, there are many students who need to turn in late work.  I spend quite a bit of time, grading late work.

I also grade notebooks for the final time, and grade final projects and final essays. The students need to put their portfolios together and clean out their classroom folders.  Checking in books and chasing down students who still owe me classroom library books or textbooks becomes a regular part of lunch or plan period.

There are finals to write and grade, Accelerated Reader points to add to the nine weeks grades, and submitting one final copy of all grades to the office.

Then there is a checklist that requires initials from the librarian, lunch lady, two secretaries, and one principal.

This year, you can throw into the mix the fact that I had to pack up one classroom to move to another.   I don't know how many trips I made, but more than I care to count.  Even with quite a few students roped into helping, I wore a little path in the hallway.

With three new preps and a new classroom to get ready, I think it is safe to say that I will spend some of my summer at school or working on school things at home.

My last day was Thursday, and I have already put in 12 hours at school.  I finished the move. (My old classroom is completely empty of my things, except a couple of furniture pieces that the custodians will be moving for me.) I have also cleaned out a huge prop/costume closet and a couple of cupboards that I needed for storage. (Merging two classrooms is work!) I have completed a little (huge size wise, little work wise) art project for the front of my new classroom.  Today, I actually began organizing my desk drawers.

I'm not sure whether to consider this the end of one year or the beginning of the next.  I just know that I am going to enforce a strict no-schoolwork rule for at least a couple of weeks this summer.  Otherwise, next year might be a really long year!