Take One. Pass it on.

I can’t believe it, but it’s over. Student teaching is finite – caput – done, done, done! A lot of people in my group are ecstatic, some are sad, and I think I’m a little in between. I am pretty excited to be done doing all the work for free…and paying for the grad school credits. I won’t lie – there’s also a kid or two I’m ecstatic about getting a break from. But for the most part, I am a little sad. It actually doesn’t feel that real yet though. Maybe it won’t hit me until Monday, when I can wake up whenever I want and not go searching for clean work clothes.

But for now, I think I’ll need the weekend just to recover from my last few days. Not recovering from students – but from the massive amounts of sugar they all brought in and that I ate. My C.I. was amazing enough to plan parties for me in every class on the last two days. (Block scheduling means I would need Thursday and Friday just to see every student) We told all the kids to bring food, and some really took it to heart.

What’s funny is that the AP classes barely brought anything, but my low level – Good Lord they know how to throw a party. I had a girl bring in crab legs. Not just crab legs, but crab legs + old bay + melted butter + a side of tylenol to protect me from the “future headache” she thought all the food would give me.  It was awesome. Not to mention the cupcakes, cakes, chips, pizza, dips, sour patch kids (my favorite candy), and Diet coke (my addiction). I may or may not have gained 2 pounds in 24 hours, but I’m not even mad. It was definitely worth it.

My favorite part though was when I got to say goodbye to the kids. For each class I made paper plate awards for all my students, and got to make a big show out of giving them ridiculous awards for things they did through out the semester. Most were jokes, and the best ones were actually in my once atrocious 5th period. I mentioned it previously, but over the course of the semester these kids went from being dreaded, to being my absolute favorite class. Yes, they were chatty and incredibly hard to focus, but they were so good and so funny that it made their bad days bearable. I spent the most time making their awards, from “Most likely to be a lawyer” to “Best impression of Fantasia.” And what was awesome was their reaction.

My other classes liked it, but 5th period acted like I had given them all Grammys. The kids would shush each other while I was talking about each award, and then made a big deal about laughing and clapping when I revealed each winner. I made sure everyone got one too, so by the end they were yelling out names and trying to guess who the winner would be for each. They were also the only class to give me handwritten cards, requested photos with me, and on their way out each and every girl gave me a hug. It was the sweetest and most confidence boosting day I’ve ever had. Any questions of me not being good at this, or not reaching some kids was wiped clean by the end of the day. Especially after 6th and 7/8 pd when two different boys wrote and performed songs about my leaving. (It’s amazing what they can do with the tune of American pie)

The next thing to think about is the job search, but I think for the moment I’m just going to revel in the end of an amazing semester and enjoy the last memories I had with my C.I. and the students. Very rarely do people have a two days that amazing, and I want to enjoy this feeling for as long as it lasts.