The end.
How many times have you watched a movie and been sad when those words came onto the screen?
How many books have you read that left you wanting more when the last chapter ended?
It seems that this school year is leaving us wanting a little more, too.
Rather than the bustle and hoopla of the usual end of the year wrap-up, we are "going gently" into the summer. There is no grand finale. No wind down. No wrap up. Just "The End".
There is something to be said for closure. Finding yourself at the end of something seems to require acknowledgement of that fact. At the end of the calendar year, we stay up late and ring in the new year. There are festivals to signal the end of seasons. As humans, we celebrate, or mourn, when we come face to face with an "end" of something.
Yet here we are, at the end of a school year, with no closure. No way to enact our usual celebrations or to collectively breathe a sigh of relief that we made it through the year.
Our students have the same feeling. For some of our students, they will return next year and we will see their smiling faces again. Perhaps, we think, they don't need the closure. For others, they are done here. Their time at our school has come to an end and a future of unknowns looms close. Perhaps they are so excited about the next chapter that they will be okay, too.
Maybe they won't.
I want to encourage you to find a way to "END" the school year with your students on a positive note. There are many ideas on Twitter, in Facebook groups, or in other places where you engage with other educators who love students, on how to celebrate the end of the year with your students.
Regardless of how you do it, make time to wrap up the school year with your students over the next few days. Let them know what you enjoyed this year, that you believe in them. Make sure they know they have value and you are a cheerleader for them.
It doesn't have to be a mushy, crazy, lovey-dovey, doting teacher kind of message. It needs to be YOU.
They know you.
They respect you.
They like you.
Before this year ends, make sure they know that:
You know them, see them, hear them, understand them.
You respect them and the growth they are making as young adults and as learners.
You like them and believe in their abilities to succeed in the future.
Have fun with it! And get ready to for summer rest, knowing you wrapped up the year well!
Be well.
Kim
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