Holding Back Tears

It's almost over.  I can’t believe it's almost over.  

I admit at the end of last week I was ecstatic at the thought that I was almost done.  But, this week and especially today, it's really hitting me.  

I don't think I can do this... I'm never going to see my kids again.  I can't imagine saying goodbye to my Basic Reading students tomorrow, I had to say bye to one of them on Monday.  That was when it hit me, that was when I recognized the reality of it- that I am finishing the job I cam here to do.  

I’ve been holding back tears all day long!  Today we were doing a lot of cleaning up and writing student evaluations for the incoming teachers.  Writing about my kids and being reminded of tender memories with them touched my heart and I can’t stand the thought that I will most likely never see my students again.

I sat and pondered what I have been doing here as an English teacher for the last four months… the impact I have made on these children’s lives… the progress they have made… the impact they have made upon my life.  Being a teacher is the most satisfying job I have ever taken on, next to being a Nanny which when you think about it, I was a teacher there too.

Children have so much to offer us.  To see how much potential they have and watch it be reached for is an honor.  We as teachers get to help them recognize it, help them bring it out, help them feed it, help them learn….  It sounds like I was doing a lot as a teacher, but really they did so much more.  They are the ones succeeding in their improvement.  They are grasping onto their potential and flourishing in it.  I am a sole witness of their achievement and a beneficiary of what I have observed from their growth.  We can learn so much from children as they are trying so hard to become something better and soaking in so much information every day that furthers their knowledge.

I am so proud of my students.  I don’t want to leave them, I want to keep observing their struggles to learn and their successes well earned.  I want to watch them grow up and see who they will become.  There is so much personality in those small little bodies; I wonder what they will become?

I wish these kids the best of luck in their future.  I pray they will never forget what they have learned and most importantly that they will never forget who they are and what they have the potential to become; what they are working toward right now.  Success.  I know they will succeed if they will remember these things and keep working hard.

We all can.