Yippee! I am so very very thankful that I made it through my first year of teaching! I'm not sure I could even thank all the people that helped me get through this year, but to any of you who read this blog, thank you! Before I continue in my ramblings I would like to say that I ended up receiving a 79% pass rate on my SOLs, which was a little disappointing, but again this was only my first year and it can only get better! And I must say that while the SOLs do limit what the kids can learn, I'm glad I had some sort of a guide to follow. I'm not sure we would have covered or "touched base" on everything had I been able to do as I wish. I do think with more time and experience I'm sure I'll change my mind. I will say that I do hate how focused schools are on just one assessment, it's not fair to the kids, but that's life.
My last week of school went relatively well. I spent most of my time cleaning and organizing my classroom in preparation for this upcoming fall. As I was organizing and going about my business I found myself saying oh this would be great for next year, this would be a fun project, and oh I'm gonna handle this situation like this next year, so if my college adviser were to ever read this I hope she'd be proud of my "reflectiveness." While I'm not saying that I'm eager for school to start up again, I will say that I am looking forward to starting over and doing a better job! As a final note about school, I did return my contract to central office with my John Hancock signature saying I'll be coming back next year, so unless if Adam gets this freight train conductor job then my plans are to return with more gumption and ambition!
I know I said I was finished with school but I will say that I worked among some of the best teachers! I enjoyed getting to know all of my colleagues and I can truly say I've learned something from all of them! The relationship amongst the faculty and staff was encouraging and even upon getting ready to leave a group of us decided we'd go to the Courthouse Grille for lunch as one last "hurrah" you could say. And for those colleagues leaving us I wish nothing but the best of luck in their future! I hope it's filled with even better opportunities for them to succeed! So finally I leave with this parting quote from Pink Floyd, "School's out for summer!"
