End of The Year Tears or Cheers?

Does the end of the school year bring you to tears?
Does the end of the school year bring you to get up and cheer?

Chances are, as an educator who gives your all to your students, your classroom,
and your second home of your school, you feel a little of both of these emotions.

Teachers have cheers for their students.

You cheer because that student learned how to read…
but they really learned how to LOVE reading.
They love reading to the point that they don’t want to put books down.

You cheer because numbers become more than counting or identifying.
They have value. They have can be broke down many ways and
they can built back up in more ways.
They are meaningful. They are all around us.
They are FUN.

You cheer because they learned their sight words.
They learned them laughing at the word “but”
even when they know it isn’t the word “butt.”
They also learned to let these words be fun.

On the other end of the coin, teachers have tears for their students.

We shed tears when we look over the scrapbooks showing out little wonderfuls growth through the school year. We remember that “little kid” who came to them in the fall with big eyes, a curious smile, and memories of learning which melt your heart.

We shed tears when we think about those moms and dads who generously
gave us 180 days of their little ones lives.
We are so happy we got to know each and every student.
EACH little love taught us something new and molded us into better teachers and better educators.

We shed tears because we have looked forward to hearing
from each kiddo day after day and week after week…
and know we know we we won’t see them for the whole summer.
We know we don’t ever get them again for 8 hours a day 5 days a week.

We shed tears for your students and ourselves because THAT is who we are.
We teach students, students teach us.
We will miss them, but they will always be “our students.”

We cheer for our students because THAT is who we are.
We know we did everything we could to help them as much as we could.
We know that we, as their teachers, are just another step in our students’ education and their live.
But… we hope we made a mark on their hearts like they touched ours.

We know in our hearts our students are ready to move on.
They learned what we could teach them.
They don’t need us anymore.

But we also know how priceless our time together was
and how much we needed them in our lives.

Also, you MUST read this article by my sweet friend Alex…