School's Out for Summer!

I'm not an Alice Cooper fan, but I love singing "School's Out for Summer" at least once every year.  It was a big year end for me personally.  My daughters each graduated, one from elementary school and one from middle school.  We marked the occasion with small celebrations - pizza with friends, mother/daughter lunch, cookies baked by a favorite teacher, bestowing of gifts, thank you cards for teachers well loved.  I feel blessed by their many talented teachers.  I enjoy their giggling energetic friends.  Such passages are always bittersweet.  My heart swells with pride at their many accomplishments and yet I know that we are closing a chapter that cannot be revisited.  Along with the celebrations I shed tears, all the things parents do.

I felt like I had tied everything up neatly with a bow on Thursday after the last graduation.  On Friday morning, my last day at Little River for the year, I realized that I hadn't taken the time to reflect on the end of MY school year as a teacher.  With the help of Caitlin Meseck and Candace Dymond, we launched an iPod cart.  And then added a second iPod cart.  Once hesitant teachers were using their data projectors regularly.  I created videos in MovieMaker and iMovie, tools I had never used.  I launched a fundraiser with much trepidation and raised over $1,000 for technology purchases. 

It was a successful year in many respects, but I am left feeling that I could have done more.  I was exhausted at the end of the day yesterday, but I couldn't stop thinking about unfinished business at school.  I am ready for a good rest, change of scenery and recharge of energy.  However, I know when August rolls around I will be ready to take on the challenge once again.