When you study great teachers... you will learn much more from their caring and hard work than from their style.
William Glasser
It’s been...a week since school let out and two weeks since kindergarten graduation. I’m finally in a place where I can think about that without dissolving into a puddle of tears. I think I spent the entire last two weeks of school either in tears or snapping at Ezra. Both of us were dealing with high anxiety about the changes but we were patient and had lots of cuddle parties.
Kindergarten graduation was amazing. I recorded the entire thing and cried the entire time. Ezra had a line during the performance “I learned the alphabet” and he rocked it so hard. They sang cute songs and I could hear his voice above the crowd. When they started awarding the certificates of completion it was over for me. I think because I worked with every single kindergarten kid this year, I felt really invested and proud of them. For some students I cried more than others because I know how hard they struggled. When they called Ezra he hugged the principal and hugged his teacher so tight, he didn’t want to let her go. I’m so proud of them all but especially my kid. He had his own set of struggles that we tackled this year and came out on top of. He’s an amazing kid. After they were done, Ezra tackled my dad and told him “I’m a first grader now!” Gah!
He was able to meet his first grade teacher. Which is really good and i think it’ll help with the transition. But let me tell you that the last day of school was ROUGH for me. Like that week I tried so hard to stay busy. I helped his teacher moves classrooms(we’ll be in a bigger room next year) and helped my boss upstairs. I helped another teacher do some sight word assessments. Like I was trying to stay BUSY but that last day of school I knew that assembly wouldn’t work for me. I’m a crier. It’s okay, it is what it is. I finished up some errands in the kinder wing: popped five bags of popcorn for a farewell movie I made for Ezra’s class, hot glued some picture frames for my other kinder class and moved the last of the stuff to the new class over. But I cried the entire time. I cried so much I had to repair my mascara twice. Thought I was calm and went to the first grade promotion where my student Andrew was, and lord knows Andrew has a special place in my heart. Tears dropped the whole time I was there too. They thanked another teacher and I for coming in and helping and gave us class yearbooks (I cried). Andrew gave me a hug and introduced me to his dad and I told him his son was special to me and I loved working with him the past two years. I go back to kinder to get Ezra and I am completely undone because one of the teachers is crying (it’s her last year), a few of the kids are crying and we are sending off the 6th graders. The third graders were crying and I’m trying to hold myself together and then Andrew runs over and hugs me. 😓😠needless to say it was an emotional day.
I absolutely loved working there. I feel like I learned so much from all of the teachers and staff members. While I’m sad that schools out, I’m excited to be back with them next semester for student teaching. I feel like I wasn’t just an employee or a parent, they treated me like a friend. They encouraged me to start dating again and told me that my past mistakes don’t define me as a person. Which is still something I need to hear from time to time. I don’t think they know how much they’ve helped me to develop personally and professionally, but I am so grateful for their friendship and mentorship.
I have no idea how they don’t get emotionally invested with their students but maybe that’s something I’ll learn over time. The two teachers I’ll be working with I’ve been working with and they have a lot of knowledge to share.
