But, I had a wonderful team that I can't ever possibly say enough good about, a fabulous (!!!) classroom, and even with the ever-developing bumps in the road (which would happen at any school), I had a pretty good year. No, I didn't want to move to Maine, and no, I certainly didn't want to teach again, but in the end I have to say that the good days outnumbered the bad days, and I had a good year. (This is assuming that I had to work. It's no secret I would have preferred to be home with the kiddos.)
Last week was the last week of regular classes and this week was finals. The way our schedule worked, I ended up giving two exams on the first day and two yesterday and no exams the middle two days. I used those middle two days to to all the end-of-year administrative stuff (and lawd, was there administrative stuff!) and pack my room. I graded, packed my room, took down my posters and so forth, and yesterday before I left for the day, I even managed to finish grading the exams I'd given yesterday morning.
Today was supposed to be easy -- a teacher meeting/wrap-up day, nothing much on the agenda.
Yesterday I found out that next year I am not going to be on my team with Mike and Victoria anymore. You see, at our school ninth- and tenth-graders are on "teams" made of a science teacher, English teacher, and math teacher. The idea is that having a group of teachers with the same basic group of kids allows for an easier transition to high school, more monitoring of our at-risk population, and generally is better for the kids. It definitely has its advantages. It also has disadvantages and doesn't always work quite the right way. I've been extraordinarily fortunate, though, because I had an amazing team and we all liked each other as colleagues and as people. We worked, plain and simple. There were angels on our shoulders to put us together this August.
Well ... I was given an opportunity to change my schedule a bit for next year. I told our principal I would teach anything except freshmen. I suggested maybe I could stay on team but have one "off team" class. In the end, my schedule is completely different: next year I am going to teach regular-level Algebra 2 (which is the same level of kids I taught this year in Geometry, just juniors instead of sophomores), regular level Precalculus, and AP Statistics.
What that means, though, is that I am now not on a team with Victoria and Mike. I also lose my room and have to be a traveling teacher on a cart.
And it seems a whole slew of math teachers are less than pleased with my new schedule.
It is very bittersweet. I want to be excited, but I am also a little sad.
Also, because of the schedule change necessitating that I no longer have a room, I learned that I couldn't just lock my stuff in my wall cabinet; I had to actually EMPTY my classroom. Talk about your change in plans!
I.
Am.
Exhausted!
Holy Moly! Mick and the kids came up to the school with some boxes from Home Depot and I packed and packed and packed and Mick loaded the truck and loaded the truck and loaded the truck. Today was the last day, and it went well, but I am not even done turning in paperwork and I haven't unpacked the car(s) and I am running on less than empty.
Tomorrow, though? Tomorrow's summer!
And I shall face all these tasks, plus bar exam studying and house and storage unit unpacking and cleaning, and yard sale planning, and general mommying and fun with the kiddos, ALL tomorrow.
For now, I am going to bed. We made it through this year. I did a lot of crying, a lot of venting, and I can't help but lament missing out on WHM's year being 3. But we made it. Mick did a pretty good job saying home with WHM. And we're okay. CAM survived full-day kindergarten. I didn't unpack yet; I've barely crafted; a lot of our stuff is in storage; I can't even tell you the last time I made a cooking club meal; and we miss Costco and some of our conveniences from Georgia; but we made it.
Happy Summer! It has, at last, arrived!* It promises to be busy.
And filled with lobster rolls.
--Jen
*well, at least in name. It's still not summery weather here.
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