It's All Over but for the Shouting

Well, not exactly shouting! The last day of school for students was yesterday, and a longer last day I've never experienced, literally AND figuratively. The literal part was that we had a FULL day of school for the first time ever. I hope we never have to do that again. I'm not sure who found it more painful, the kids or the teachers. Those of you who teach know that the last day of school is like driving a car where the brakes are failing, or trying to stop a runaway stagecoach. Now imagine trying to hold the reins in for almost 7 hours. We had a lot of fun activities planned for the kids - A dunk tank, field games, a "daylight dance", karaoke, etc. The weather didn't cooperate. It rained (poured) a lot of the day so many of the outdoor activities had to be moved inside or changed. The dunk tank was supposed to be all set to go at 8 am but it didn't arrive until then. So for almost an hour we had to find alternative activity for our kiddoes to do while we waited for the dunk tank to fill. The dance was abbreviated because the music system decided to very uncharacteristically go on the fritz! Let's just say that by the time the day was over EVERYONE was exhausted!

We teachers have 2 more days of school --- workshops on Monday and Tuesday. This is also something very new for us. In the past we've always gotten out the same day as the kids. But due to the ice storm in December and all the days we missed, we ended up "giving up" 2 workshop days to have normal school days, plus we owed the district contract time. So that's why it's all over but for the shouting.

I have to say, I'm very glad this year is done. Although I had a great group of kids, this was an extremely difficult year. Aside from the unprecedented ice storm, I was teaching a whole new subject area for me, and one that I didn't want to teach, and didn't enjoy teaching. Of course that meant way too many weekends and evenings prepping for new material (and trying to "get it" so I could figure out how to teach it.) Unfortunately I have to teach this area again next year, despite the fact that I had been promised it would be for only one year. I am not a happy camper. We also had a member of our grade level team leave mid year as well as the principal. Very weird! I also had the new experience of having a student really hate me and do everything possible to fail. Fortunately everyone realized that the student had big emotional problems, so that made it easier to deal with, though it's awful feeling that you can't reach someone.

But. . . .all of this is now history. I am looking forward to Wednesday morning.