My Story His Faithfulness

…or why I have been drinking so much coffee and my house is a mess.

It was an amazing end to the school year, but I think I have figured out why I am so tired.

Monday

1. Give and grade finals. Also, makes sure that you get all of the papers back to students. This serves two purposes. They will not be asking you every 30 seconds what grade they got AND you will no longer have a huge pile of papers on your desk.
2. Start cleaning out the classroom. It may look like an even bigger mess, but at least you will have everything out of the drawers.
3. Set up the stage and chairs for graduation practice.
4. Turn in your final grades for the year!

   

5. Go to the local flower shop and pick up flowers to make a practice arrangement for the flowers that will be used at graduation.
6. Send out emails inviting people to the watch the graduation ceremony that you will be figuring out how to live stream.

Tuesday

1. Practice for the Spring Program and test that the live streaming is in fact going to work. Explain to multiple students that live streaming is one directional. When they are waving and yelling at the computer screen to the people practicing, no one in the other room can hear them.
2. Gather the entire school (1-12 grade) and monitor behavior and keep score during the Knowledge Bowl.

   

3. Take all of the high school into the computer lab and make them work on the yearbook for an hour on the day immediately following their last final…yeah, not much working occurred.

   

4. Sort papers in your classroom for a couple hours. That recycling pile is becoming pretty impressive…
5. Prepare food for the Senior Farewell Dinner.
6. With assistance, get dressed in a yukata.

   

7. Try not to cry during the dinner… lose that battle.
8. You just had a 14 hour day at school. Go home and get some sleep.

Wednesday

1. Launch the Summer Reading Program while realizing that you forgot to make all of the copies for the students.
2. Take them to the library (a.k.a. the dungeon) to convince them that they really do want to check out books to read over the summer.

   

3. Wonder why your students are being very evasive and secretive all morning.
4. Instead of a class party for them, realize that your students have prepared a farewell party for you.
5. Cry a lot more as they honor your time as a teacher.
6. Begin writing cards to to all of your students…cry. In Starbucks. Make the people around even more aware that you are a crazy foreigner.

Thursday

1. Work with your students to clean out your entire classroom and realize how much better they are at cleaning than you are.
2. Track down all of your students to give them their summer homework that you hadn’t copied to give them when they were all in a contained area.
3. Set up the hall for graduation.
4. Check in with the Seniors to make sure that they are satisfied with their speeches so that you can print them off and have them ready for Friday morning’s graduation.
5. Get large amounts of uncut flowers to arrange later.
6. Go to McDonalds for “lunch” at 3:30 realizing that you have only had coffee and chocolate today. (breakfast of champions…I know)
7. Go home and arrange the flowers. Discover that bows were a lot harder than you anticipated.

   

8. Finish writing all of the cards to your students and getting their gifts ready.
9. Fall asleep on the couch.

Friday

1. Arrive at school early enough to get the live streaming set up, print graduation speeches, get gifts and report cards ready to pass out. (Try not to be the one who passes out)
2. Direct traffic so that all of the students know where they are supposed to be.
3. Enjoy the graduation.
4. Present gifts to the Seniors on behalf of PTA (You were the secretary after all).

   

5. Help get set up for the potluck and party afterward.
6. After you have made the students clean up after the party, move them upstairs to finish the yearbook.

   

7. Go out to dinner and celebrate…you have made it through the last week of school.