After Grace's K-5 graduation on the 13th, the seniors had baccalaureate on the 15th. The speakers, both dads of seniors, delivered such amazing messages. Dr. Ken Jackson brought his message of "know where you're going and have a plan to get there" by using Alice in Wonderland's cheshire cat, Diana Ross, and the Dave Matthews Band. Reverend Harvey, whose son just transferred to our school this semester, prayed a blessing on the seniors that made me wish he prayed for me every day. We had a reception afterward and all went home. Thanks to Sal-Lee Sasser-Williams for staying the whole time (and thanks to her hubby for keeping their twin babies for her to do so!)
The first part of the week was filled with semester exams and getting ready for graduation. I cannot tell you the happiness and relief of knowing that all twenty seniors would graduate. I think it must be very hard for anyone who is not a teacher to realize how much I care for those kids...it breaks my heart to even think that one would be left out of the graduation ceremonies. Easy it is for others to say, "Oh, don't worry about it! You've done all you can. Just let it go." Would that I could! Instead, I keep questioning if there is anything else I can do, and I keep thinking what I would want if it were my child -- wait-- what I DID want when it WAS my children!
The teachers gave the seniors a luncheon on Wednesday and graduation went off without a hitch on Thursday night. The lockers are all cleaned, the teacher gowns and hoods are packed up and ready to go, grades have been posted and transcripts printed. Wow! This has been sooooommmmmeeeee year!
Always as the year begins I pray that God will bless my efforts and help me be the best teacher I can be. As senior sponsor, I also turn to God at the end of the year. I see these young ladies and gentlemen leaving the safe place they have known for thirteen years, and I wonder if they are really ready. Have I done all I can do for them? Have I taught them more than characters in a play and literary movements? Will they be able to survive the next phase? And I pray this prayer by James Metcalf:
I want to teach my students how--
To live this life on earth,
To face its struggles and its strife
And to improve their worth.
Not just the lesson in a book,
Or how the rivers flow,
But to choose the proper path,
Wherever they may go.
To understand eternal truth,
And know right from wrong,
And gather all the beauty of
A flower and a song,
For if I help the world to grow
In wisdom and grace,
Then I feel that I have won
And I have filled my place.
And so I ask your guidance, God
That I may do my part,
For character and confidence
And happiness of heart.
I have often said that my sense of worth as a teacher cannot be measured by how my kids feel about me when they are in school, but rather by how prepared they are when they get to college. Often students come back or email me when they move on. Although I don't believe I'll ever hear from anybody in this class, I know they have been given all I have, and, for this year, that's going to have to be enough.
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