School's Out For Summer

Today is the last day of school. I remember how exciting is was when you have a whole summer to look forward to sleeping in, vacationing, and not having to do homework. I had those feelings last summer. However, this year it is quite a different feeling for me. I won't be returning to school in the fall, and that makes today pretty sad.

I know this probably sounds crazy to most people, but I think that teaching middle school happens to be the best job in the world. I love teenagers! They have a really bad reputation, but mostly they are really great, funny people. I am going to miss being around them.

I have been thinking a lot about why I love my job so much and the things that I am going to miss about it. These are my top three:

#3: I overheard this conversation in the hallway in February. These students didn't know that I was behind them.
Student 1: Have you seen Mrs. Moon lately?
Student 2: Yeah. She looks really fat.
Student 1: I know! Do you think she's pregnant?
Student 2: No, she's just fat.

Luckily, I was pregnant or I would have felt pretty bad. I thought it was hilarious. Teenagers speak their mind, which can be a bad thing sometimes, but when they give you a compliment you know they really mean it. One of my favorites this year was a homemade card I got from a student saying I was as funny as a talking parakeet. I don't really know what that means, but I think it's a good thing.

#2: Teaching students to cook and sew can be quite a challenge. I have seen fingers sewn through, bad burns from getting pans out of the oven without an oven mitt (who knew you had to explain that?), and all kinds of cuts ranging from rotary cutters to aluminum cans. My favorite part was watching them try to follow recipes. This is my all-time favorite story. We were making frosting for cakes, and the recipe was the basic powdered sugar-butter-milk version.
Student 1: Mrs. Moon. Can you come look at our frosting. It doesn't look right.
Me: (Looking at what is supposed to be frosting but looks more like little styrofoam balls.) Well, it looks like you didn't follow the recipe correctly. Did you put in the milk? Did you melt the butter? Did you put in enough powdered sugar?
Student 2: Yes! We did everything right. There is something wrong with the recipe.
Me: The rest of the class is using the same recipe and it is turning out fine. Let's figure out what's wrong. Why don't you taste it and see if you can tell what is missing.
Student 1: (Tasting frosting and making a sour face.) Umm, it tastes fine to me. You try it.
Student 2: (Tasting frosting and making a similar face.) I guess it's ok.
Me: (After all of the students in the group have tasted it.) I think you may have put flour in instead of powdered sugar. Let's just start over.
Student 1: Mrs. Moon! My tongue is burning!
Students 2, 3, 4: Mine too!
Me: What did you put in this? Show me.
Student 1: (Pulls out a can of baking powder.) Isn't this what we were supposed to use?

Yes. Baking powder instead of powdered sugar. I couldn't believe it! First of all, I'm not sure where they even found three cups of baking powder. I guess they both say "powder" but when something comes in such a small can you would think that maybe it was the wrong thing. The student who was cooking on the stove with a Pyrex bowl instead of a saucepan comes in at a close second. FYI: Pyrex shatters when heated to a very high temperature.

#1:
Mostly I will miss my awesome students. These are some of the Student Body Officers who I was the adviser for this year. They were so much fun to work with. The best part about being a teacher is that I got to be around all kinds of people, like the "cool" kids (which I wasn't) and the "emo" kids, which didn't really exist when I was in school. I realized that no matter what group the kids belong to, they are all basically the same.

So I guess I'm ready to trade in my title as teacher to a new one as mom. I think my feelings can be summed up by this quote from Dr. Seuss:

"Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened."