I’ve been substitute teaching for the same teacher for six of the past seven weeks. This is my last week — the last school week before finals. The seniors had their last day today. Overall they’ve been great kids and teachers do form an emotional attachment with their students. But you still have a job to do, especially the nuts and bolts of teaching — making sure missed assignments are turned in, grades are recorded, papers passed back, and textbooks accounted for. We had to verify that all the seniors (I have eight in my five classes) are going to pass and therefore are eligible to graduate. Tomorrow there is an awards assembly, necessitating shorter class periods the rest of the day and complicating preparations for next week’s finals. But it all comes with the territory.
I’ll be glad to finish the year. I’m way behind on yard work and need to catch up on sleep. But I will miss the kids.