Dumped

I got dumped today. I've known that this was coming, and the whole process will take a little over a week to completely wrap things up, but I'm getting dumped. Today was my seniors' last full day of classes.

As I've mentioned, I love my job. Part of the reason that I love my job is the fabulous people for whom I work, as I've mentioned before as well. My students ROCK! Which is what makes this time of year hurt. It's a bittersweet emotion because I know that they're doing what they're supposed to do; it would be sad if they didn't move on. But, I love them, and I'm going to miss them.

Just like with any successful relationship, in order for the teacher-student relationship to be productive and healthy, both people need to be invested in its success. Most of the time the students understand what their end of this bargain entails, but sometimes we need to help them a little more to do their part. And, just like with other relationships, sometimes this is a constant challenge. It, absolutely, takes two people for things to come together, and neither person can do it on their own. However, the teacher (as the responsible adult) is typically expected to shoulder most of the burden and has a certain responsibility to each student to meet their individual needs. And, each student has different needs, so each relationship ends up being a little different. Again, as in other relationships, there are some that work better than others; some are more fun, some take a higher priority, some make you angry, some make you laugh, some make you want to cry, and some make you want to scream. Some warm your soul, some raise concerns, some are energizing, some are exhausting, some make you hopeful, and others break your heart. Some are admirable, and some are infuriating. And, every day is a new day.

But, it's amazing. In order to do what we do, most teachers jump in with both feet: we get wrapped up in these relationships and we long for them to reap rewards for the student. We worry about them when we're not in school, we think of them while we drive around, we think of alternatives in the shower. Their successes are our successes; their failures are our failures. We want them to succeed. All of them. We're not perfect: we say the wrong things, we do the wrong things, we lose stuff, we screw up lessons, we get mad, we get tired, we get slow. But, we keep going. And, for 9-10 months out of the year, we do the best that we can for each of our students (hopefully).

And then we get dumped.

Like I said before, it's ok. Really. We know it's coming, and it's the right thing to happen. We want them to move on. It's that good old, "If you love something, let it go..." Sometimes they come back, and that's amazing. Sometimes they don't, and that's ok too. It happens every year, and it'll happen next year too. It also won't make me love next years' class any less. It's a good hurt, and I'm glad to feel it. It means I've done my job.