After the Last Day of School

After the last day of school, when all the kids are gone, teachers have post-planning which pretty much means we have a big ole party and celebrate the fact that we don't have to see another kid for two months. Just. Kidding!!!



Post-planning really involves putting the year to an end, and getting everything signed off on our "end of year checklist."  We pack up if we have to move to a new room, or purge our classroom if we're staying put.  At my school, we also take the time to say goodbye to the teachers who are retiring or "moving on." I always look forward to this day even though it's really bittersweet.

Take for example the goodbye speech from this veteran science teacher, Mrs. Veazey. After 14 years in the classroom, she is ready to retire. If you know Mrs. Veazey, or Veazey Veaze as I like to call her, she is ALL heart. She teaches this way, and the relationships she builds with other teachers and students is also this way. All. Heart. The other thing about her is that she cries easily. At the drop of a dime. So. Oh well. How will she make it through her speech?

But you know what? She did it, and she only started crying maybe once or twice.  Veazey's speech had all the right ingredients. She was super funny. Thoughtful. And boy was she inspiring! At least to me. What was really evident throughout her teaching career was her impact on her students and how much she really cared for them. 

She reflected and shared many stories from her teaching days. Take for example, a story she shared about a student she taught in the 6th grade. She told that student how she had gone to the aquarium with her family, and they were ready to leave long before she was. Well, she had kept in touch with that student, and when he was a sophomore in college, he texted her, and told her that he was taking her to the aquarium. That way they could both go and enjoy their time without anyone having to rush them.  How sweet is that!

Mrs. Veazey also got a class pet for her students...a leopard gecko affectionately named Senor Cool after a serious naming contest. Thankfully Ugly Thang did not win the popular vote.  Anyways, Senor Cool was the adored pet by many students (and me!) for 13 years, and he survived, despite a lot of handling, "tossing and dropping."

And this is what stood out most to me about Veazey's speech. Those relationships she built with her kids. Over the course of her 14 years and meeting over a thousand students, she invested quality time, and she let her kids know she believed in them. She always promised her students that if they behaved and kept their grades up, she would take them to dinner when they graduated high school. She's kept her promise, and she's taken many former students to dinner, she's attended many football, softball and basketball games, high school concerts, a couple of quinceaneras, and get this...she's also attended the weddings of three of her students! How. Phenomenal. Is. That!

Veazey Veaze, you're my inspiration! I was listening. I laughed, and you even made me tear up a bit. More importantly, you taught me how to continue to build relationships with my students. And isn't that the reason we teach? I know it's the reason I do!