You set up your place in my thoughts, moved in and made my thinking crowded.

It's my last day of my first year of teaching.  All I can think about is how far away this moment as seemed for so long, and now it's actually here.  I woke up this morning with tears in my eyes and, believe me, I'm more surprised than anyone about that.  It's harder -- much harder -- than I thought it would be to say goodbye to these little people who have made me so humbled, happy, frustrated, hoarse, tired, sad and proud for the past year.  As much as you don't want to admit it sometimes, these kids get under your skin, yet somehow, in doing so, make their way all the way into your heart.

They have been in my every thought since August, and I wonder what I'll worry about all summer now that I won't have plans or assessments or behavior management to think about every second of every day.  Maybe I'll be able to read a book without thinking about how I could use it to illustrate cause and effect, or change in setting.  Or maybe I'll still worry about them and whether or not they are reading and who is passing summer school and are they being nice to people and if the helmets are strong enough at football camp.

For today we're cleaning up our classroom, eating ice cream and having a dance party.  As we do that, I wanted to say thank you to Jada, Nicholas, Aja, Winston, Bishesh, Jennifer, Lawrence, Samrawit, Cindy, Marzae, Amina, Xavier, Vanessa, Leul, Zoe, Roxana, Rijan, Karen, Kristopher, Mariah, Armari, Jaslyn and Amaya for letting me be their teacher, and for letting me into their lives.  It's been a privilege to be there.

xo kate