Well, it happens every year: the last month of school.
Every year when May rolls around, I want to install seat belts on the kids’ chairs, because they become so antsy for Summer Vacation. The weather finally warms up. Spring sports are in full swing, and while the happiness and excitement are at record highs, I always feel sad.
Sad?!?!? I know it sounds crazy. Teachers have a fantastic work schedule with every holiday off, summers off, a crazy amount of sick days just in case we are hit with the plague. Of course, I love all of that. I love having the whole summer to spend with my two little kids. But that isn’t what makes me sad.
Teaching is such an odd job to have. While each year is different, because every year brings new kids with a new dynamic. The objective remains the same. Teachers basically hit the restart button in August and do it all over again, year after year after year. Same concepts, same lessons, same objective. My methods are never the same. You can’t teach everything the same way, because each child learns in a different way. It gets changed up, but the objective remains the same.
I get new little 3rd graders in August. Their little legs swing back and forth because the chairs are way too big for them, and their toes don’t touch the ground. But they grow and they learn and I turn them into seasoned 3rd graders by February (sooner if I am lucky) and prepared 4th graders by May. And, yes, most of their toes are touching the ground by then too. The entire objective is to teach them well enough so they learn enough to get them to 4th grade.
From the end of August through the beginning of June, I pour my heart and soul into preparing my 3rd graders for 4th grade. I drill them with multiplication, fractions, reading fluency, comprehension. We write essay after essay after essay. Then we rewrite essay after essay after essay. Grammar and vocabulary and spelling…it seems to never end. “Find the subject of this sentence and then tell me what 5×5 is.” “How many continents are there??? Oceans?? Now name all of them, and what are lines of longitude and latitude? “My 3rd graders can rattle off the majority of their major bones, function of the major organs, where they are and then tell you about all of the planets in the Solar System. Some parents are convinced that their kids could become doctors or at least work for NASA once they are done. I hear it every year from parents. “I know I never learned this much in 3rd grade.” It is truly impressive that they rise to the challenge every year. And they love it.
But it doesn’t end there. It actually just begins there. I help my students through countless friendship problems, confidence problems, mom and dad problems, study skill problems, organization problems, time management problems, forgetfulness problems, sibling problems, didn’t get enough sleep problems, and didn’t eat breakfast problems. The list doesn’t end anywhere. Nothing seems to be off limits either. These are kids. They trust me. They depend on me. And I love it.
So when June rolls around and I have to send them off to summer break and then 4th grade, it makes me sad. For 9 months I think about them day in and day out, night after night. I run through my day with them over and over. What should I do about this student? Move this student’s desk? How do I help them understand this better or that better? I feel elated when they succeed, and I feel disappointed for them when they don’t. They become the students that I have been striving for them to be. They have our routine down to an art. They know what is expected of them. I don’t have to go over the rules. They know when to write in cursive or complete sentences and when they don’t have to. After 9 months of teaching them, they are exactly where I want them to be and where they need to be. Give or take a few multiplication facts. While they are great in August, they are amazing in June. I never want to let them go.
But the end of the year brings my favorite moments. Sometimes it happens earlier, but it has been a guarantee for me every year. Yes, it is important to me that the students learn the lessons and do well. But what is it that bring me back day after day? Year after year? When I finally hear the words, “Mrs. Curran, you are the best…..I love you, Mrs. Curran…..I never want to leave 3rd grade.”
Feeling is mutual, kid.
Posted by Mrs. Curran
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