May '07 Blog #1: Reflections Upon My 1st Year

I am so happy to be out of school. The funny part that I keep thinking about is how much I am going to miss my kids. I won’t be returning to that school district next year, so I won’t even get to see how much they’ve changed over the summer. My kids put me to the test over and over again, and I’m sure they can say worse about me. However, I still miss them so much and I am glad that I was hopefully able to empower them for the few months that I had them. Those few months felt like years in November, but now it doesn’t seem like that at all. My last day of school I bought my students doughnuts from Krispy Kreme (the best). They really enjoyed them as they cleaned up my room and watched television. (I still don’t know why they made us basically babysit our students those last two days after final exams.) As I leave this place I thought about a list of all of the things I am going to miss about it. Here’s a few
I am going to miss…
*All the jokes (even the ones I’m sure I was not supposed to laugh at!) that were sometimes told during a lesson or before class. It is so hard to keep a good teacher face when the jokes are SO funny.

*All the drama…one of my students was dating my best friend’s little brother and felt the need to give me an update as to the status of their relationship based upon whether or not her called her everyday.

*All the changes…9th graders are very moody. One moment they can be very upbeat and perky about a “crunk“ song, and then the next day they can be extremely depressed over trivial things (he said/she said things).

*My partners in education (I was going to say crime, but I’ll stick to education)…I had a lot of teachers on my hall support me and give me advice about the school and teaching in general. From those days spent at the bar talking about the joys and pains of teaching to watching my class while I RAN down the hall to the restroom to just making me one extra copy because someone decided to take 4, because she used a pen and messed up each time, I appreciate it all.

*My students…my students…my students. I think I will miss you all, well maybe most of you anyway. I know I’m the teacher, but you have taught me a lot over the course of 9 months as well. I believe each one of you made me a better person in some way…whether it was a better diciplinarian, a better listener, a better observer, a better empathizer, a better instructor, a better preparer, a better anticipater, more patient/less patient and more focused.

I thank you all.
Ms. Siwell