Goodbye, Fun Students

It’s over. My time at the Davidson Academy is done. 

Okay, maybe it’s not quite as dramatic as the above sounds. After all, I am remaining on the substitute list, so I may show up every once in a while. Also, I still have some final assignments to grade and return to the regular Spanish teacher, so I have to come by sometime next week. 

The students were great. I felt very loved and appreciated on the last day, which is a great feeling for a teacher. So often when you’re teaching, some days end and you feel discouraged, untalented, antagonized, disrespected, tired, or all of the above. While I had relatively few of those days over the last several weeks, it was still great to be encouraged at the end. I got a candle, a sweet card, and a Starbucks gift card, and many thanks and affirmations of my teaching. 

A couple girls also made me a video, which is a great gift, because not only do you receive the encouraging messages, but you have a lasting memento of your students’ faces and voices, and you get to remember their mannerisms and the little things that make them fun and unique. They interviewed various students from my classes and recorded both things the students like about me and humorous things they remembered from Spanish class. It was very touching and SO much fun to watch.

(It also made me realize I should maybe be more careful about the random things I do occasionally, because one girl said one of her favorite memories was when I told the girls that once they had been pregnant, their belly buttons would never be the same. Also, one student has pictures of me sitting under a desk, gripping its legs and demonstrating my fake terrified expression, taken during an earthquake drill. It was fun at the time but not very dignified in hindsight.)

They are very thoughtful students, and I feel really grateful for the time I got to spend with them. And now I am looking forward to all the time I will get to spend with my daughter!