Our schedule for the last 7 days went as follows. On Monday we had 2 classes in the morning of Finals, then the students were dismissed at 11:30. This was repeated on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday cycling through all periods. During these periods students completed whatever Final assessment each class had. My students in U.S. History classes did presentations related to Native American rights. In my Sacrifice for Freedom class we took turns looking at the web pages each student had created telling stories from World War Two (these can be viewed here). In Ethics, students did presentations on current Ethical dilemmas. These included presentations around Gay Marriage, Marijuana, Gun Control, and Human Cloning among others. Students put together presentations around a particular psychological disorder in my Psychology class. Some of these topics were Anti-Social Personality Disorder, Bi-polar Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, and more. Its a tough time in some ways as there ends up being a bunch of assessments to grade. this is why there are half days so we can grade in the afternoon. The problem is that often those afternoons get filled with other activities. This includes preparation of awards, planning for Advisee Day Out, and making sure things are in place for next year. If one is a Senior Advisor, its even worse as it includes marching practice and meeting your incoming Advisees. People are irritable, frazzled, and moody. Yet we try to look for humor as well. Someone left this picture on my desk, for example.
Friday we had a mini-schedule in the morning. Each class is short, but with Finals over there isn't much to do so we watched films in my classes. After lunch is the Senior Class Day Assembly. All the Seniors march into the Gym in front of students and families. The Faculty then give out a bunch of awards and the Senior Slide Show is shown. This is always a bittersweet time. It is basically goodbye to the Seniors, but its also nice to recognize and applaud the Seniors for earning the awards they receive. I enjoy giving awards to the Seniors I teach. Our Department also gives out a Book Award or two to Seniors who were exceptional Social Studies students during their time at my school. Graduation took place on Sunday. I didn't attend as my family were busy getting ready for our trip to France.
On Monday was the annual Advisee Day out. I was able to get all grades done over the weekend, so I was basically done with the most of my work Monday morning. Five 10th grade groups traveled to Cole Farms Restaurant for a great breakfast buffet. Then we went to Seacoast Fun Park and took part in a ropes course, zip-lining, Disc Golf and Go-Karts. It was a little expensive, but its what the students wanted to do. It turned about to be a decent day and it seemed as though everyone had a lot of fun. It was a nice way to end the year.
Tuesday was the last day and it was half day of school for students. Locker clean out was first thing in the morning. This is 20 minutes of chaos that saves the custodians a few hours of work later, so its well justified. Then we had our awards assembly for underclassmen. I handed out a few awards in this ceremony. This was followed by a mini-schedule once again. We didn't do anything, classes are 10 minutes long. We say goodbye and maybe sign a few yearbooks. Then the students were dismissed at 11:30. All Staff then met in the student center to celebrate the year and say our final goodbyes to those teachers who are leaving. This was a big year for us because we had four Staff members retiring who had been at my school a very long time. I struggle with these type of events as I never know what to say and don't like saying things of this nature in front of others. But those who do, stand up and reveal great memories about the folks who are leaving. It always includes a lot of laughs and a lot of tears. This year was particularly hard because of the folks who were leaving. Once this is over, we all head in our separate ways. I went back to my room to get my room into shape for the summer so the custodians can easily move stuff and clean. This included removing some of the student work form my walls, which I hate to do. Typically I would be ready to go home and sleep and just do nothing for a few days to recover. But this year we my family and I are traveling with 4 High School students to France for 18 days and leaving just one day after school ends, so I went home to finish packing and tying up loose ends.
It was an interesting school year. It started out really stressful with so many new initiatives and stresses. But it ended very well for me. I am very existed for next year as I will be teaching AP Psychology for the first time and no longer having to deal with Virtual High School. However, we didn't have enough sign ups to offer Sacrifice for Freedom so I will look for ways to continue this project. I am also excited as I am now Vice President for the Maine Council for the Social Studies and we are planning our annual Conference for October. I am also hoping to attend the National Conference in November in New Orleans. So these loom for next year and excite me. Before I even get there though, we have a big trip to France and some rest. I will blog once about the trip and once before school starts about my summer PD. Next school year I will only blog twice a month instead of every week. Its just too hard to blog every week. Now for France and some vacation!
