6.05.2008

so many lasts

The hard thing about teaching fifth: yearly goodbyes. It's not the same as saying goodbye to, say, third graders, or kindies, because at least you know you'll see them the following year. Most of them, anyway. But even though we get periodic visits from our kids when they move on up to middle school (most of them just walk a few blocks back down to see us), it's not quite the same. With each sporadic visit, they seem older, tougher, pricklier. I made my girls promise today that if I saw them at the bus stop or the mall over the summer (and in the years to come), they would not be smoking, swearing, or smooching. With yucks and eye rolls, they all promised. I wish I could make them sign a binding contract.

But here's the nice thing about teaching fifth: Most parents really appreciate everything you do for the kids. Happy reading to ME!

3 comments:

Jenny said...

I feel exactly the same way about teaching 5th grade! It's sad to not continue to see them growing and their progress, but even worse is the feeling that I'm throwing them to the lions by sending them to middle school.

damned_cat said...

oh, i KNOW. even when we do our transition trips to the middle schools i secretly want to tell the teachers, these are special kids. please be nice to them.

Dan said...

hehe.

kindies. it took me a second to figure it out. i'm not hip to the teacher lingo.