The End is the Beginning?

There are only three days of school left.  I'm starting a blog at the conclusion of the school year.  Who does that?  Hopefully I'll be able to keep up with it next year.  I'm sure there will be lots of polishing to do then as well.

It's time to be done.  However, I feel much better than I did at the beginning of the year.  To be honest, I wasn't sure if I was meant to be a teacher at the beginning of the year, or even when I decided to go into education...or even now.  But I can now say I enjoyed this year much more than I expected and it went much smoother than I ever imagined.

My kids were very good - they made my first year pretty easy and I am going to miss them (well, maybe not ALL of them...).  I just hope I can teach 6th grade again next year.  I was very nervous about teaching math and science at the start, especially after getting the job 3 days before school started.  But I'm very happy and feel very fortunate to have been able to do so, particularly because I think I like teaching math better (never thought I'd say that!).

The year flew by.  First I was trying to figure out how to find the time to make a math and science lesson in the same day and have a little bit of free time, and now EOG's (End of Grade tests) are already finished.  There are only three days of school left (have I said that already?).  Crazy.  I was quite pleased with my students' testing scores; 23 of 36 students passed the math EOG, which was more than I expected.  I found (with one exception) that the students who worked hard this year, regardless of their abilities, were the ones who passed the test.  Those who slacked off or fooled around this year didn't pass the test.  It was that simple.

My teaching teammate and I also had 16 students pass the reading EOG this year, which was phenomenal because all of our students failed their math EOGs in previous years.  Normally, 3 or 4 pass it, put this year was much different.  Even though I'm not that reading teacher, I feel proud and feel like I had a part in that.  I think the way we interacted with our students and had strong relationships with them really impacted how well they did.  It seemed that for some, it just gave them much more motivation to do work for a teacher they actually enjoyed being in the room with and who took an actual interest in them as people.

Overall I think the year was a success.  I'm sure I learned more than I think I did (I still feel like a total beginner) and I notice some differences.  There are, however, many areas I want to work on and just need a fresh start and fresh set of kids to work on with.  I'm not sure where I'll be next year, but I really hope I can be back in this classroom again teaching a new batch of young elementary minds.  I know one thing's for sure: my next group of students won't have to do near the shining job that was done this year.  They'll have it much easier, but they'll find there's a lot of polishing to go.