And so the end is near . . . .

Soon the school year will be over. It’s cranking up for the wind down. There are only four weeks left. Out of that there are only eighteen and a half days with students.

If you have never taught school you can’t have any idea what the end of school is like for a teacher. Everyone on campus seems distracted and flustered. These coming weeks are full of activities before, during, and after school: the Spring Art Show, the Fine Arts Festival, the Art Educator Town Meeting at the Museum of Fine Arts, Family Picnic (a two day event, one for the lower grades, one for the upper grades), and Awards Ceremonies. In addition to this we have to clean up our rooms, box up all our stuff and prepare so that the custodians can clean them over the summer.

Having just gotten over the joys of standardized testing several of my colleagues have to be ready for the Vanguard Program. This entails daily rehearsals and constant work on costumes and sets. Every now and then someone approaches me for materials. I’ve been able to share the joy of beads and glitter.

The fourth grade is preparing for their annual field trip to San Antonio. This time it will be a multiple day trip to both San Antonio and Austin. They are fundraising right up until the end.

At the moment it feels overwhelming, but all I have to remember is that this too will pass. After fifteen years of teaching in public school I know that this crescendo of activity will climax on the teacher prep day when the entire faculty will be frantically trying to get sign-out sheets filled out so that summer can start. Suddenly all this frenzied motion will be followed by the unnerving inertia of summer.

I have to be careful and not let my dreams of summer and my planning for the trip take over all my time. There are still the day-to-day activities of teaching to be done in addition to the closing out of the school year. Lesson plans, grading, taking roll and overseeing groups of anxious students who are perched on the verge of summer.

The kids know that the year is at its end. The weather is warm and soon the city will be cleaning the pool in the park next to the school. The odor of chlorine will be added to the scent of magnolias, honeysuckle and all the other blossoms. The pool will be glistening brilliant turquoise in anticipation of the coming summer.