As the school year draws to a close I am left with a sense
of emptiness. After the long adventure through student teaching, and everything
I have learned, and all the wonderful experiences I have had, it is all going
to be gone soon. Every relationship I have built, every friend that I have
made, and every student that I have reached in some way, will all be gone. I
have one of two options: I could become sad and reminisce on all of the good
things that happened over the year in order to hold onto what is about to be
leaving me, or I could be happy that what I experienced was just one of many
more years to come. I am torn by the fact that I will more than likely start to
slowly forget the names and faces of those that have affected my life and those
lives I have touched, but also relieved to know that they, too, will slowly
start to forget me as well. That makes saying goodbye a little less painful. And
then I remember that no matter where life takes me, if I graduate, or if I even
last as a teacher, as long as I am happy with the things I have accomplished
this year, then that is all that really matters in the end. I know in my heart
that I did a great job teaching them and I know for a fact that they will miss
me when I am gone, for at least a little while. What I need to do now is be
happy that I was able to experience the joys of teaching and the joys of
building a community within the classroom, because there isn’t another job on
the planet that is quite like this. Sure, I have my shortcomings, as everyone
does, because I am a human being just like everyone else. But my strength is in
my craft and my actions cannot be summarized by only a few of them. Too often
we only focus on the negative aspects of other human beings instead of trying
to see the good under the surface. That is one of the most essential skills we
can have as future teachers: if we can see the good in every kid, and not what
is on the surface that they are putting out for everyone else to see, then we
will be able to reach them, and teach them, and learn from them. The world isn’t
full of sunshine and rainbows, and that’s okay because without sadness, without
the sadness of saying goodbye to this year, this experience, then we wouldn’t
know the joy that came from it, that will come from future classrooms, from
future students, from future teachers. We are all on this earth together, like
it or not, and the classroom is our earth, and we stick together, and
eventually part ways with the knowledge left to us from the other. This is why
we, as teachers, might just be able to change the world.
Mr. Ames – signing off
