Usually I only attend a high school graduation if there are a significant number of seniors who I know are walking. After teaching at the same high school for the past three years, my advisory class has finally grown up and walked across the stage. For some seniors, they had one of my science classes for three years in a row, thanks to my ever-changing teaching schedule.
Since I was one of the sponsor teachers, I got to wear the cool black robe, but longed for the magic wand like the teachers at Hogwarts carry! Nonetheless, I was the first teacher to arrive at the Frank Erwin center, where we held the seniors in a holding pen as if they were bulls, waiting to be released. I took advantage of moment by taking pictures with the members of my advisory class who I could find.
If I thought being in that room was a long wait, sitting through the actual ceremony was mind-numbing as different people made speech after speech.
Finally, the ceremony got to the part we’d all been waiting for, the famed walk across the stage. I was so proud as I watched my students walk and I remembered all the times I had to call home just to get them back on track. As a matter of fact, some of the most notorious students I made hug me since, whether they knew it or not, my constant monitoring of their behavior was the only reason they even passed.
It’s almost going to be a brand new student body for me since most of the students I taught this past year were seniors. Of course I don’t know which classes that I’m teaching in the next school year and I’m certainly not curious enough to return to school to find out. I figure that getting the email with the master schedule will be good enough for me later on in the summer.
Until then, I’m going to take the advice that I gave to the graduating seniors and make the best of what’s to come.