It's the End of Teaching as I know it

On May 28th I finished my last day of teaching 5th grade! I have mixed feelings about this. It has been very rewarding to do something so challenging and to feel like I mostly succeeded at it. I had fairly small classes both years (20-24 students) and a lot of really great kids. I am going to miss the daily interaction with the students and the other teachers. I love the challenge of trying to get them to understand something they didn't know how to do or apply something to their lives. I don't like the challenge of getting them to be responsible, polite, or interested. I wish they already had those qualities and I could move on to other things. As a teacher I spent a lot of time teaching what I think their parents should have taught them at home- like manners, hygiene, and to love to read. But since they haven't learned it I guess that is the most important thing I can teach them.

My mom came down and helped me pack up my classroom. Thanks mom for driving all the way down here, all the encouragement, and the heavy lifting. I couldn't have done it without you.

It was a little sad to see my classroom completely empty. I've spent so many memorable hours in there! The end of the year is always so crazy busy with report cards, awards, cum files, grading, packing up my room, hyper kids... I am still in a complete daze I've been so super busy and tired it will take me awhile to recover. I am so glad the baby is not due for a few months, I need to rest up before I start my next job as a mom.