School is OUT!

I finished the year, told everyone goodbye, and officially "left my job" on Facebook. What could possibly make it more official than that?

I definitely experienced a range of feelings in the hours following those final moments at school-- but they were complicated by other events, like returning the rental car I had for over a month even though my car still isn't fixed, coming home to pack for my upcoming trip to Georgia, and realizing that with the end of the school year comes the end of my Teach for America experience.

Now I have to figure out what I want to do with the rest of my life.

But since this blog has been primarily devoted to my life as a teacher (and not a human being), I'll probably keep writing about school-related stuff over the summer. Memories of my kids, thoughts on pedagogy, word-for-word recitations of conversations I've had about education. Scintillating stuff, I'm sure.

And while I'm thinking about it, I really want to share this one particular memory.

Yesterday, I ran into one of my students from last year, who is now in 2nd grade. He always reminds me of our "handshake, hug, or high-five" routine. Each morning, I greeted my students at the door with the question, "handshake, hug, or high-five?" and they chose how they wanted to be greeted. Most of my first-grade babies would enthusiastically respond, "ALL THREE!" and we would proceed to shake hands, hug, and then high-five. This particular student, however, would instead respond, "ALL TWO!" with equal enthusiasm. He didn't like shaking hands-- he just wanted a hug and a high-five. I often thought about explaining to him that the phrase, "all two," didn't make sense. I mean, he wasn't asking for all of the options. And even if there had only been two options, it would be more appropriate to respond with, "both." But I never had the heart. I mean, who would remember the kid who said, "I'd like a hug and a high-five, but not a handshake"? Exactly.