~and now the time has come~

     The time has come to say good-bye to "the 21".  We have reached the final day of school for the 2016-2017 school year.  Just like that, "in the blink of an eye" 39 years of being a teacher have now come and gone.  We will dismiss at noontime today, right after the kids have enjoyed one last meal time together.  Before we know it, the lunchroom will be a deafening quiet.  The hallways will be empty with no physical reminder that anyone was even there.  For me, this hallmark of the last day of school can always be described in one way.

     Bittersweet~

     For a year to have come and gone as quickly as this one has, always make me pause to think about just what it is that I have taught these children that have been entrusted into my care. Have I covered all the standards set forth by the state of Oklahoma?  Do the students know everything they need to in order to be successful in the fourth grade next year?  How will their test scores look once they come in later in the summer?  All of these things are important to consider for it is I who will be held accountable in matters such as these.  Yet even as crucial as the academic side of this all seems to be, there is still something far more important to me that I have wished for them to learn.  

     It's a people question.

     What kind of people have they become in my classroom?  What kind of people will they find themselves growing up to be?  As their teacher, have I guided them along the right paths, even though I know that sometimes that road can be a little bit on the rocky side?  And if I have done the right thing by them, then how did I accomplish it?

     It really boils down to one thing and they call it a "classroom community".  

     I'm a believer, a rock solid one as a matter of fact, in the concept of classroom communities.  After 40 years or so of doing this, I guess you could say I have had some practice.  I know that in order for a school year to be successful, students and their teacher alike must be willing to work together for the good of all.  Kids need to feel welcomed and valued once they enter through that classroom door and that feeling needs to happen on the very first day that we meet one another.  That feeling of welcome and of worth doesn't stop on the last day of school either. It continues on for the rest of life.  It's that important.

     If a classroom community is working well, it can be seen in many ways.  It can be evidenced in the way that a teacher listens to the students far more than she talks at them.  This is something that I have constantly had to remind myself of, especially in these times when high stakes state testing takes center stage for the greater part of the school year.  If a classroom is being run on the concept of community, relationships that are solid in their foundation are being built each and every day.  Children and adults alike are learning to get along with another, accepting and understanding the very differences that make their classroom unique and so very special. Perhaps the greatest thing a classroom community offers is the chance for students to see that life is not perfect.  Some school days are good and some are not so good, but if everyone sticks together then things don't seem quite so bad and it all works out by day's end.

     It's 4:30 in the morning as I type these words.  Somewhere out there, "the 21" are asleep in their beds and perhaps dreaming of all the fun they will have during summer vacation.  I'm not crying now and as a matter of fact, I feel peace in my heart for having done the best I could this year in a brand new school.  Later on this morning, I cannot promise that I will not feel like crying.  Last days have always been tough for me.

     I began this school year with one goal in mind.  I desired that on this day, the final day of 3rd grade, that they would look back and say that it had been their best year ever.  If they could say that, then I would have accomplished everything that I set out to do.  When they get older and look back on the times that we had together, I hope they know in their hearts one thing.

     There was once a teacher named Mrs. Renfro and she loved them so very much.

 

There once was a little girl named Peggy and she was a third grader too.

I am so thankful for these good people and many others not pictured in the photo above for helping me to make my way through my first year as an educator in the state of Oklahoma.  No one gets through the school year totally on their own.  Only a foolish person would ever believe otherwise.