Saturday, May 26, 2007
This past week was our last week of actual classes, and all that's left is 3 days of finals next week. The end of the year feels so close, but I still have sooo much to get done, between grading TWO sets of old lab reports, dealing with unhappy parents, grading the actual finals, collecting/checking in textbooks, and turning in final semester grades.
I felt like this week was simultaneously NEVER going to end and that it was flying by WAY too quickly. Our seniors go on a retreat during finals week, so they have to take their exams early, which means that teachers have to get them their review materials early and write their finals early and get everything ready EARLY, which is not the best word to describe my year, to say the least. So it's felt like trying to juggle too many balls at the same time -- needing to catch up on grading old stuff (being behind), preparing and photocopying new stuff (being ready for right now), and staying barely one step ahead of what the seniors needed from (being "ahead"...ha ha, right). It didn't help that my seniors fell into like 10 different categories: some who needed to take their exams in the Academic Center, some who needed to take it in two sittings (because finals are 1.5 hours but class periods are only 45 minutes and the library is only open for 1 hour after school), some who are in both my Chem and Math classes so they had *four* halves of exams to take, some who needed to take it in my classroom, and of course the ones who couldn't take it at the time they originally said they'd take it, and yadayadayada. I definitely sort of got run over by all the senior activities and modified schedules this week while still trying to force the rest of my kids to actually STUDY.
Most of the seniors attempted to finish their exams by Wednesday, because Thursday was "Senior Servant Day." This is a TKA tradition where, for an entire school day, seniors become the "servants" of whoever was the highest bidder when they were auctioned off the week before. The proceeds go toward buying their class gift for the school. It's voluntary, but it's such a tradition that most everyone participates. I didn't get to see a whole lot of what went on, but I hear it's really cute when a bunch of 6th graders pool their money together to "buy" a senior and the senior ends up hauling them around on a wagon and carrying their backpacks and taking notes for them in class. I definitely saw several wagons go by that day.
Luckily, after that, Friday was only a half day. All class periods were only 35 minutes long, which was both good and bad since I was tired but we really needed to actually use the time for review. Then right before lunch, we had a "Senior Chapel" where the seniors basically run an entire assembly on their own, alternating between leading worship songs and giving advice to each grade level behind them and performing funny skits and doing special musical pieces. One of the seniors also gave a personal testimony about how TKA has made a difference in his life. It was a really touching time, and I could really see and feel how much TKA is like a big family. I'm so thankful that God has brought me to be a part of it all.
Then came Locker Clean-out and Yearbook Distribution and the ensuing madness. I was so exhausted that I ducked out pretty early and will just deal with signing yearbooks next week while my kids take their finals. I was definitely sort of numb with the realization that the bulk of the year is over and I just need to press on for 10 more days. TEN more days!! That's insane. This academic year has definitely been the hardest thing I've ever done in my entire life.
I received two of my first thank-you gifts as a teacher, too. One will just live on as a memory, because it was one of my seniors in Chemistry buying/delivering me lunch earlier this week. He said, "You're always helping people during lunch. I just wanted to do something for you, too." This was a senior who started out the year getting a D because he wasn't putting in the effort. But after much prodding, somewhere along the line he realized he could do it. All of second semester he wanted to get every lab report perfect, came in after school to make sure he understood each new concept, and started studying for each test before anyone else. I'm so proud to see his work pay off, not only with an A in Chemistry but with an overall 4.0 for his last semester of high school. Such a refreshing change from senioritis!
The second gift was also from a senior, who presented it to me after Senior Chapel yesterday. This was a math student who spent the most time in my classroom after school working tirelessly just to pass pre-calculus with a C, even though math is really not his subject and most other seniors in his position chose to drop math after first semester. I was incredibly impressed by his attitude and perseverence. I don't think I had any other student this year who worked as hard at something they weren't naturally good at. Most students either just get it easily or try to skate by with the minimum effort needed to get the grade that they want. But this senior--when he wasn't able to complete an assignment or was even several assignments behind, rather than turn in something incomplete or not turn it in at all, he would take the time to meet with me or another teacher until he completed every problem.
Anyway, over the course of the many afternoons he worked on math after school, we had the chance to talk about a lot of things, including what I used to be involved with while in high school. I mentioned that I used to be the captain of our Varsity Badminton team, and that I missed playing. So yesterday, when I opened the cylindrical package he handed me, I was surprised to find that he remembered such a random thing about me -- it was a set of badminton birdies! Not only that, but he had written a message on each birdie head inside. The top one said "The Greatest Math Teacher", a couple others had equations like the Law of Cosines and the trig identity "sin^2(x) + cos^2(x) = 1" , and the last one said "06-07 Advanced Math" to commemorate my first year of teaching. The card attached said, "To Ms. W, the most patient and helpful math teacher I've ever had." I mean, just...wow. It blew me away.
You hear stories about stuff like this but it's pretty amazing when it actually happens to you. I'm definitely at a low point in terms of how I feel about the year, but Marilyn was right when she told all the first-years that the kids actually do appreciate what we do for them. I know it's going to be a strange next week, saying goodbye to the first set of high school students I've ever taught. I hope I can feel like I've made a positive impact, even among all the things I know I could have done better. But after all, God works even (or especially) through our weaknesses. (In the mornings at staff devotions, we often remind ourselves that that day, God will work either through us or in spite of us, but regardless His will will be done.)
Come June 4, 2007, I am going to breathe a huge sigh of relief!
