the last day

Today is the last day of school. I am planning on posting grades and getting everything done today. I brought home a huge load yesterday. Some students helped me load the truck. And then, naturally, started looking through the trash bin and found all of these books that had been thrown away. They dug through the trash and left with a box of books. I was so proud. More later.

the last day of "school"

The next two days are finals. On Thursday, the last day of school, I have lunch duty. I spent a whole semester supervising lunch. It was one of those character-building things. I met many new students, and I learned how to calm down angry students and persuade them to pick up their trash. Some of the time. The ISS teacher still calls me Cat Lady after the cat incident. It was me and 250 students in the cafeteria. I begged for back-up, to no avail. If you blinked, a kid would be gone and a tray would be sitting there. Well, on this day, I blinked and a leftover cat from Anatomy and Physiology was sitting on a lunch tray in the middle of the table. I was so made. I checked the security footage. You can't see anything. It's the biggest waste of television and tape I have ever seen. I haven't supervised in two years at least. I can't say that I have missed. I pray that there are no food fights.

The last week of school

This Thursday will be the last day of school. It is the earliest we have ever gotten out of school before. Usually we don't get out until after Memorial Day. One time, we didn't get out until June 6. How did I ever make it that long? It's been bittersweet lately. Actually, I haven't been constantly thinking "this is my last Monday" etc. What makes me sad is when I have students who say "Are you leaving? I signed up for the class, so I could have you as a teacher." It's a really nice compliment. I had those students as sophomores, and not teaching them next year was one of the reasons that the decision to leave is so hard. I won't miss some personalities, but yet I guess it is like family. You love 'em and you hate 'em. It's strange to think that someone else will be in "my" room.

I've been cleaning my room for two weeks. I hate throwing things away. I'm afraid some day that I might need it. A scrap of an idea. A writing sample. A freewrite. A book. Another teacher who is leaving was making me throw things away. She thinks I'm a packrat, but I'm really not. I love picking up those pieces of papers, old ideas, and it brings me right to a memory. I love to revisit those things. I think we forget so quickly. I guess I'm afraid what it will be like to not be in a high school classroom. I love it so much. But I know that working on this degree has made me a much better teacher. It seems strange that I am getting to be a better teacher and now I am quitting. I feel like a traitor sometimes. A statistic. Teachers only teach for three to five years. I remember my second year when I knew that I could never make it five years. But those experiences, I learned quickly, are learning experiences. I thought that 25 was too old to have character-building moments. You think as you grow older you will know more and life will get easier. If fact, it has been the opposite for me.

Writing for Myself: Writing to Teach

Well, I lived through last week. This has just been an emotionally draining roller coaster. "This" being this semester. I didn't know if I could make it, but here we are. Graduation for the class of 2005 is a week from today. Tomorrow is the Memories assembly. Seniors will be gone on Friday. Students are hearing that I won't be coming back, and they are coming by to see me. That makes me feel good.

On another, random, note, I am really excited about the new Indianapolis 500 driver--the woman--Danika? I can't remember her name is moment. I don't watch racing, but I think that is exciting.

My attention span is very short, so I am signing off for tonight.

IRA

Well, I'm in San Antonio. Me and 22,000 other people. I'm hearing a about a lot of literacy issues that I have no clue about. I have heard of reading first--I know that the government gives your school money if you follow their directions exactly. I thought that I heard elementary teachers in my class talk about how it wasn't such a great thing. They feared it a bit. The teachers here seem pretty pumped about.

I went to six sessions before I found one that wasn't full. I walked all over the place, and the lines were so long. I heard Julie Andrews speak today. Yes, The Sound of Music. I didn't know that she wrote children's books. I went to a session called The Comedy of Punctuation and another called The Role of Reading Coach and Mentor. I thought that sounded good, but it was really about the reading first initiative. I guess if you sign up for that then you have reading coaches at your school.

Tonight there is a concert across from my hotel. Lyle Lovett will be there and Los Lobos and Arch Angel and the Gypsy Kings. The tickets are $100 a piece and there are only 2000 available. Unless the street is blocked off, I am planning on standing on the street or sitting on the roof of the Hyatt.

I have finals next week and a lot of work to do. Syllabus, Assignment, Chapter for the professor, Final, and final in statistics. I should try to do a little studying at some point, but that hasn't happened yet. Also, I forgot to return an email to NCTE, so I can be on the student literary magazine board. I hope it's not too late.

Orientation for the Missouri Writing Project is coming up next week, and I'm nervous. Actually, that's something I need to work on first. I think I better stop blogging right now.