Starting All Over Again

The life of a teacher is unique from any other.  Other professions have a never ending series of work, followed by another series.  For over 40 years, with a one year detour, as a teacher I had a starting point and ending point which was followed by a period of time that I had to find employment or add to my education, but it was always followed by doing it all over again.

Think about it for a second - as a teacher you send a group of young people on their way in the early summer hoping their futures work out.  Then you forget them (not really) and move on to a new group in the early fall (or late summer).  You invest in their intellect, their dreams, and their possibilities with each and every minute of the time they are in your charge.  If you have done it right, you have developed a relationship with each student that will be a part of who they become.  Then they leave you.

Now that sounds depressing, and over the years I have to admit when I watched seniors leave after graduation, it hit me that the young people who had entered my life would now go out into the world without me.  After a while I realized that I would get more students, but that lingering thoughts were still there, "I wonder where they are now.  I hope they made it.  I hope I made a difference."

Today we started the process again.  I felt great about what we did today, and I am very proud of the Quality Improvement Team and the leadership that they provided with the work that needed to be done today.  Yet, in different way, felt that same feeling of seeing my students move on with their lives. Will it be that way when this year ends?  Not sure I want to know.