Next Year, Your Child Will be in ---- Grade

Today was the last day of school.

I do not get very sentimental about that. Some teachers spend the day crying over their kids, but I don't. Maybe its that we live in a small town and every where I go, I hear, "Hey, Mrs. Grimes!" I know I'll see my students often.

Maybe its just that I know that I've had my time with them and now it is time to pass them on to someone else.

With my job, I'm taking these young kids and turning them into middle schoolers. Its tough. There are days when you can laugh and enjoy each and every moment. Then there are some days when you are ready to pull your hair out and can't hardly wait until your student worker comes to be able to send him to the snack machine for a much needed Snickers bar and grape soda (Thanks, Robert. I don't know how I would have survived without you). Some kids you can love them and be kind and gentle. Others, you have to be tough as nails. We learned at a PD what it meant to be fair and it wasn't treating everybody the same. Fair is giving each individual child what he/she needs.

At the end of the year, I look back and ask the question, "Did I do a good job?" How is that answered? Not always by test scores or report cards. Not always by the Principal's evaluation.

What is it that tells a teacher, "You did a good job?"

Sometimes its that big hug and "I love you" you get from the child that spent the first 9 weeks of school cussing and hating everyone and just thought he'd be better off dead.

Maybe its the kid that you had for two years (because you made a deal with his mom that you would be his teacher until he passed) and on his final report card says, "I did it! I get to go to middle school. Look, I finally don't have any F's!"

Maybe its the ARC meeting you sit in at 4:00 PM on the last day of school with a mom and she states that she has seen positive changes in her son since he has been attending your school.

Sometimes it is that letter you get from a young girl a year after the fact stating that she remembers the talks you had and appreciated the fact that you wanted her to succeed.

Sometimes it is the young man you run in to at Wal-Mart and says, "Man, I miss you. You were right about what they were going to expect from us at the middle school."

Maybe it is the junior in high school that tells people, "Yea, Mrs. Grimes is tough, but she wants you to learn."

Maybe it is that Senior in high school that is about to graduate tomorrow and tells people that you were caring toward her as her fourth grade teacher.

I'm not so naive that I think every student I've had over the last 9 years will remember me or like me. I'm not Teacher of the Year by any means. But I do know that in each group, I've done a good job with somebody by seeing them out in the community doing good, by reading about them in the paper (NOT the police beat). Now, I don't take full credit for their success, but that is my reassurance that I didn't mess them up too badly! I love my job. Like any other, there are ups and downs. There are kids that I'm going to worry over. His he being molested? His he being fed? Is she running around with the wrong crowd? Is she making good choices in her relationships? A sad thing about it is that as a teacher, I have a pretty good idea how these kids are going to turn out. I can tell you who the pregnant teen girls will be, who the dropouts and potheads will be, and who will be dead or in jail by the time they are 21. That's so difficult. These children are precious. Regardless of how bad a day may get, I can see the potential in these kids. What they can become is so amazing! Yet, I am only a small part of their lives. There are so many other influences they have.

I just pray that these children that left me today, the many others I've had the pleasure of teaching, and those that I had my first year that graduate tomorrow will make wise choices, recognize their full potential, and seek God in everything they do.

Please pray for your children. Pray for all children. It may sound cliche, but CHILDREN ARE OUR FUTURE. If we as a nation are to have a future at all, we want them to be God fearing, God loving, God serving adults.