Not What I Expected

This week was most definitely the strangest last week of school that I can remember. It was a week of mixed emotions and one that I hope I don't have to repeat again. Cleaning, meetings, conferencing, teaching, and partying (yes, partying) all rolled into one week.

In all my years of teaching, I don't think I've ever been able to get my room packed up and ready for the summer in 2 hours. Well, that's what I did on Monday. As a staff, we were provided with a sign up to choose a time to go in and clean things up for the summer. It was the first time I had been in my room since the middle of March, and the date was still on the board. When we left, we thought we were just going to be gone for a few weeks. Those few weeks turned into a few months. There wasn't a lot to clean up--I mainly just needed to wipe off the boards and clean off my desk and shelves. But it was just really strange to go through those things that had just been left there and to think about what had been happening in the classroom at that time. I just realized that the time I have been away from my physical classroom is about the same amount of time for summer break...weird. Don't want to do that again!

Tuesday was a day of virtual meetings. I had 2 student conferences to reflect on how virtual learning went and get some feedback on what I could do to make it better. I also had my science "office hours"-a time for my students to pop in and ask questions about assignments. With this being the last week, there haven't been any new assignments, but I hoped a few students would join in to get help with past assignments. Alas, that wasn't the case. However, a few students did come in just to chat, as they have for the last couple of weeks. I actually don't think I've had anyone come into my office hours to ask a question in the last month; they just came to visit. That must mean that my assignment directions were very clear :-) Following the office hours on Tuesday, I had a regular check-in meeting with my homeroom students. It is our time to just catch up and see what everyone is up to. This get-together was a little different because we ended up spending a bit of time talking about the protests happening around the country. Not exactly a conversation I would be having during a pandemic, but hey, things aren't exactly normal these days. The final meeting on Tuesday was with a student who has been having a hard time these last few weeks. She hasn't been joining our check-in meetings, and the assignments she's been turning in have been lacking. I decided that it might be nice for us to go through the last reading assignment she did and do it together. We met up in Google Meet, both of us were able to pull up the text on our computers. We took turns reading the assigned texts, some poems, and then talked through the discussion questions. This particular student is a very literal thinker, so I figured that the poems were a little out of her realm of understanding. Reading through these poems with her, at this particular time, just FELT GOOD.

Wednesday morning I was back at school, this time helping to distribute locker contents to families. It was also an opportunity to see some students in person! I only got to see a few of my current students, but it was really nice to see former students. It was a well-put-together system: the parents sign up for a pick-up time, drive up to school, and stop at a designated spot. Since it was done by sign up, the materials needed were usually ready to go when they arrived. I have to say, I think our school did a really nice job of organizing all of this, and it was very well executed.

And that brings us to today. Today was a bit of an emotional day. We (the staff) had a retirement party for 3 of our middle school colleagues and the superintendent. It was a time for stories as well as a heartwarming video made up of clips from students. These are 3 very special teachers who were loved by their students. There were definitely some teary eyes by the end of the party. I am so glad I had the opportunity to work with them at the middle school these last couple of years. One of the retirees, Nancy, is actually the reason I made the move from the elementary school to the middle school. She is the librarian for both buildings, and she told me about an opening at the middle school that she thought I would be good at. It was that little nudge that brought me to where I am now, and I am very thankful.

Tomorrow we will virtually send the students off into summer with the hopes of being physically back together in the fall. Time will tell. I know one thing for sure--I need a break from this Chromebook. 

See you after summer!