The Final Countdown: the last one?

The end is finally here. All the hard work has hopefully paid off and you are happy with your growth as a professional teacher and as a student. Have you been counting down the days? Did you ever think this day would come? Do you find yourself counting down in your regular classroom?

The end of the school year always seems to be so far away as you approach your room late in August. When the end finally does arrive, you wonder where all the time has gone and start to reminisce about the good old days with your current class. Vicki Blackwell has a personal webpage with tons of activities to celebrate the end of the school year. She also has activities to make the last days more meaningful. I especially enjoyed the tip of making t-shirts with your class. I currently make t-shirts the last week of school with my students and I love seeing them the following years.

But as the year winds down you find yourself on the celebrated last day of school. What do you do with those final hours? Beth Lewis offers many neat ideas that can be modified for any grade level to take up those final hours of school. Writing a letter to next year’s students, making a memory book, have a spelling bee, focus on next year and my favorite, clean, clean, clean are just a few she offers.

As those students walk out your door, you only can hope everything you have worked so hard to teach them will stay in their little minds. You pray they will at least pick up a book or two over summer vacation or try and practice a little math. Sometimes parents don’t realize how much their child can regress over the summer and then start the next year far behind. As students start school again in the fall, they have lost one to three months of learning. Brain Drain can happen and probably will, happen to all our students. Some tips you can offer parents are: keep math in mind, keep lots of books around and encourage reading, consider summer school and look into educational programs or camps.

When it quiets down and you begin to reflect upon your year and your empty classroom, many thoughts may rush to your mind. You may be so satisfied with how the year turned out and cry tears of happiness. You may be so happy the year is over and rejoicing you will start all over with a new class next year. You may be waiting for the end of contract time to meet up with friends to have a few celebration drinks.

But then… you may think, Why am I doing this? You may feel you have no desire to return next year. Many teachers get the blues and some never return to teaching again. If you do ever run into this situation, just remember why you became a teacher in the first place and use several motivational techniques. Also find comfort in other teachers and get support. But most important always remember… You Are Fantastic!
Good Luck in your many years to come! Jenna