Tomorrow is the last day of School

It happens every year, I fall in love with a group of students and they turn around and leave you at the end of the year, only to grow older, wiser, and more sophisticated than when you first met them. This year I had the mix crew of ESOL students, beginners , intermediates, and advanced, as well as, two regular Language Arts classes, and one Advanced. All the Language Arts, read or heard me read the poem, The Highwayman to them. It should have the name, the Inn Keeper's Daughter as she was the hero, who sacrificed her life for his. What an eerie romantic tale. When I had them imagine a world without TV, computers, CDs or DVDs, not to mention, MP3 and cellphones, a universal gasp came into the room. They could scarcely phantom the idea. I was only trying to have them imagine a more intimate time when people really conversed (interfaced) and listened to one another's ideas and entertained each other with music, drama, skits, reading short stories, novels, and reciting poems. This poem in particular had many entertaining elements. The love triangle, the cadence which enhanced the suspense, and tragic ending which can not end their love, was the essence to how it has remained a classic. It is moving, thought provoking, and entertaining and was a good embodiment of what good literture should do. It was a good way to end the year, making them yearn for more. It has been a real struggle to teach this last week. Some of them, have already turned off their brains. They are already half out the door and in a mad rush for that Memorial Day Weekend. Though school ends tomorrow, many kids were already saying good bye today. I got hugs and even applause from my last period class when I closed the class with remarks saying how much I had enjoyed teaching each and everyone of them. I hate the end of year just as much as I love it. There is always an empty little hole where someone ran off with a little piece of my heart.