Last Day of School

Tomorrow is the day that we, as teachers, value beyond all other days... except perhaps the day after tomorrow. My fifth year is ending on a bitter-sweet note. This has been, by far, the hardest year I have faced. When it started I had nothing but grand visions in mind for the fifth year of my career. I was pumped and inspired. I was going to out-do my previous years of teaching by being even more innovative and dedicated. But life has a way of setting fire to your plans. I found, instead, that I was more self-absorbed, grumpy, introverted and distracted than ever before. I won't go into the details but suffice it to say, I struggled, and struggle still. So tomorrow comes as a much needed break during which, I hope, I can refocus. Though honestly I wonder if 10 weeks will be enough. I feel as though I have let my students down, though it's likely you could not tell by them. I know my teaching was not what it should have been and I am sorry for it. I'm sure all teachers have their up and down years. I only hope that this summer gives me the opportunity to do what I need to do, whatever that might be.

My summer actually looks to be fairly bright to the outside eye. I have plans to spend large amounts of time on my ceramics, with possible production "dates" with a fellow artist and friend, a stack of books knee deep that I'd like to read, a Master's degree to work on, a yard in desperate need of some weeding, a house still in need of chinking and oiling, a front yard to landscape, traveling and camping to do, a new patio to enjoy my coffee on every morning and a husband to spend it all with. I'm trying to be positive when so much of the past seven months has been so negative. So goodbye to the worst year of my teaching career. Goodbye and good riddance.