Today, I told my students that I am leaving in two weeks. I got a little choked up when I told my first class. (Which is amazing because I rarely get choked up, even when I am truly sad--tears, for some reason, just don't really come out of my eyes very often.)
The students' reactions throughout the day:
-One kid clapped. (He was kidding. He is one of my favorite students and likes to give me a hard time.)
-One kid cried. (She was not kidding. It was really sweet and kind of embarassing.)
-One kid asked, "Are you leaving behind the gumball machine?" (I knew they would be very concerned about that.)
-One kid asked, "But who will grade our Scarlet Letter essays?" (Are you surprised to learn that this was an honors student?)
-Lots of kids frowned.
-Lots of kids stared at me blankly and didn't react.
I love teenagers. I am going to miss this job.
Haha, I love the one about grading. Obviously that student really cares about what you think about his or her writing. Maybe you could accept some emails!
ReplyDeleteYou are going to be missed. How much did you tell them?
:( Sad. But cute. But really pretty sad.
ReplyDeleteI like the frowning. The frowning seems so genuine. Two weeks is pretty short notice on such a shake up to their lives too, you know? And the scarlett letter kid, LOL. You know, I udnerstand her concern because she's been writing to YOU diretly and when someone else grades, they are going to grade differently then you would and either her paper won't be appreciated as much, and will be graded with an A lightly and wihtut much regard, or it will be taken way off in a different direction. When I was in law school we had a class where our papers were graded by random readers each week and it was a major issue and source of complaint. One reader would grade us down for doing something, we'd adjust our style, and the next reader would write, "Why did you do this?" and grade us down for what we had just corrected for the last reader. It made me want to scream. It was awful. I feel her pain.
ReplyDeleteI love teenagers too.
ReplyDelete...and one colleague said, "What?! Whoa that sucks. Huge"
ReplyDeleteRachel, you will be missed more than you know. Thank you for being such an inspiration to the kids and to us. I'll always work a little bit harder because of you.
xoxo
Just getting caught up on your blog. We are so happy, excited, thrilled about your little man. I'm really full of the amazement of the whole adoption process. My older brother and his wife are having their little girl (adoption was finalized on Wednesday) sealed to them on Saturday. Life is sweet and full of miracles.
ReplyDeleteLove you both!
Janine