I recently read “Mattering: The Secret to a Life of Deep Connection and Purpose,” written by Jennifer Breheny Wallace. She discussed the human need to matter and all the ways that our value is confirmed. One chapter was about the magic of places that make us feel like we belong. She told stories of a pub with a time for children to dance while parents chat, coffee shops that offer a table reserved for conversation among patrons, and game night cafes.
A well-designed classroom offers this magic for the students and teachers. The class expectations, routines, and layout can cultivate conversation, collaboration, and self-directed learning. Friendships deepen, support is given when someone struggles, and victories are celebrated. The school year becomes magical, and ends too quickly.
For many students, this is a time of year filled with state assessments, end-of-year banquets and parties, and “the lasts”. The last practice. The past group project. The last rehearsal. The last game. The last day with a teacher who created a magical place where they belonged.
It is a confusing time. A student is both excited for the summer break, tired from studying, and grieving that the school year is ending, all in a single moment. As adults, we watch them struggling and tend to ask complicated questions like, ” How are you doing?”
I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that there are some classrooms that don’t have that magic. Some students are excited to be done with that class, that subject, and/or that teacher. But even when we are ready to be done, we might not be ready for change.
Also, let’s mention for a moment the “May-cember” that parents are juggling. They are doing everything they can to manage a calendar that would make anyone tired.
Teachers are also struggling with the end of the year. They have to say goodbye to students they have poured their heart, mind, sweat, and tears into for months. Simultaneously, they need to complete the end of the year assessments, grades, prepare files to hand off to the next teacher, make plans for the master schedule next year, complete their professional development paperwork for licensure renewals, finalize any outstanding evaluations, finish any progress monitoring data, plan the end of the year party, get/make gifts for their students, and at some point eat, sleep, and do laundry. I have always said, the thing we often forget about education is that it is the only professional career where every project has the exact same due date.
Somehow, students, parents, and teachers make it through the last month of school every year. They make plans for how to minimize the stress and chaos next year (as though they really can), and they greet summer with joy. They sleep in, stay in their pajamas, swim, play, read, travel, and, after a few weeks, dream about starting a new school year and all the magic that it will bring.