Only three days left of teaching, and I've mixed emotions about it ending. I love the students, like really love them. I think about them as I lie awake in bed at night. I think about the literature we're reading and how I will make Shakespeare's Julius Caesar relevant to a room filled with eager to learn, but easily bored, tenth-graders. I think about how I will skirt the 215 "n"words in Huck Finn. (We don't read the word aloud, ever.) I think about how I teared-up (not cool) when I read to the class Jim's hurt-filled response to Huck's mean trick,
"When I got all wore out wid work, en wid de callin' for you, en went to sleep, my heart wuz mos' broke bekase you wuz los', en I didn't k'yer no' mo' what become er me en de raf'. En when I wake up en fine you back ag'in, all safe en soun', de tears come, en I could 'a' got down on my knees en kiss yo' foot, I's so thankful. En all you wuz thinkin' 'bout wuz how you could make a fool uv ole Jim wid a lie. Dat truck dah is trash; en trash is what people dat puts dirt on de head er day fren's en makes 'em ashamed. (Twain, 83)
I think about how some days the students like me, and the other days they want to hop on a raft to Cairo or put me at the base of Pompey's statue. Just kidding; they don't want to kill me, I pray.
I asked my homies last night, "What if I become a full-time teacher?" They said, "We miss you when you're not here in the mornings."
"I miss seeing you in the mornings, too."
Unrelated to the above thought process, I found this Tooth Fairy letter from years ago. Haven't I shared it with you already? It's too cute, and I think I'm getting Alzheimer's.
We're still waiting for the magic, Tooth Fairy. And I would like to retract the crossing out of "Clean the whole house in a second." We'd still like that, too.
And there is the great dilemma: "We miss you when you're not here in the mornings." And "I love the students."
ReplyDeleteSo much love, so little time.