It’s the end of the school year. You can feel that vibe.
Actually, you can kind of hear it. It’s loud.
The kids are squirrely, to put it politely, with spring and soon-to-be summer fever. While students get antsy, teachers are also feeling the May syndrome after a long school year.
Just at a point when things seem frayed, though, it’s time to get nostalgic about the current school year as students prepare to move on to the next grade and, for some, to another school.
I’m no teacher. My only experience was teaching an intro to journalism class at Columbia College for a couple of years in my 20s. But I can imagine that there is a bittersweet side to the end of the school year for them, too. Just as you start to figure out how a student learns and what makes them motivated, it’s time for the late spring field trips, assemblies, concerts and other usual celebrations that mark the tail end of the academic calendar.
As parents, we often have our students share cards or gifts with their teachers at the end of the year. Some of us have given the traditional teacher gifts like mugs and apple-themed trinkets, which probably pile up on desks and in classrooms like tchotchkes from successive vacations.
As we express gratitude for spending about eight hours a day with our children — whom we know full well can be a handful sometimes — we as parents really do mean our expression of thanks. We understand the patience and fortitude it takes to contend with a roomful of squirmy kids about the second week into summer vacation, when we only have to deal with one or two of them under or our own roof.
This is also the time of year when you start to hear the news about impending teacher retirements. That, too, has a certain bittersweet element to it. These are people who have nurtured and educated youngsters for years and in many cases, decades, who have left an imprint on so many lives. When they leave on that last day of school and are recognized at a school event, there’s a reason why you see a lot of tears and hugs.
So thank you, to those who taught me when I was a student (I’m talking to you, Sister Clare and Mrs. McEmeel) and to those who have shared their knowledge and patience with my four children, from preschool all the way up to college.
The process wasn’t always easy and it could be frustrating, but isn’t that the point of learning? If the sailing was always smooth, you wouldn’t know much about navigating.
Thanks again for steering us all in the right direction, teachers. And, in the words of every good yearbook signing, “Have a good summer.”
