Nearing the End

Although I should be planning for my classes and writing a final exam, I find myself wanting to write about the happenings of the last week. I felt a major sense of relief as I turned in my Professional Certification portfolio on Wednesday after a frantic weekend of analyzing data and writing narratives. Looking back on the process I can actually say that I experienced growth as a teacher in several areas. That aside, it feels great to be done!

The end of the week brought a chance to celebrate with my science colleagues. We all gathered after school on Friday at Twigs for a Bon Voyage party. I can hardly believe how quickly my fours years at Ferris have passed. I am certain that I will dearly miss my wonderful science friends but I am so excited when I think about the amazing people I will meet throughout my two year journey in Korea. God sure knew what he was doing when he provided an opening for me at Ferris--I have learned so much about teaching and learning from everyone I have encountered at Ferris and I am so grateful for their support as I battled two years of illness and decided to pursue opportunities abroad.

The countdown until the end of the school year reached zero for my seniors on Wednesday. I was thrilled to join a group of selected guests who attended the senior breakfast on Thursday to celebrate with these lovely men and women. I have felt so lucky to watch these kids grow as we both began our first year at Ferris in 2006--some I have had three times in class over the last four years and they have grown as individuals by leaps and bounds.

Today, I watched their high school career come to

an end as my students walked across the stage to receive their diploma cover (don't you remember the "Look mom, no diploma" photo?!). I wondered how some actually made it to this day considering the memories I have of them as a wingnut freshmen. Others I watched with pride as I knew it took a tremendous amount of effort and commitment to recover from mistakes made early on. All in all, today was a reminder of why I decided to teach...to celebrate the successes of my incredible students. Leaving the arena was a bittersweet moment as I realized I won't see many of these young adults again. Here's hoping our paths will cross in the future.

Now it is time to get serious about my preparations for wrapping up the school year with the rest of my students and getting ready to move to Portland en route to Korea. I'm sure there will be many more emotions that come as the end draws near. I just hope I can handle all of them at once!