This old post from 2011 reminds me of how special the relationships between teachers and students can be.
"Affection is responsible for nine-tenths of whatever solid and durable happiness there is in our lives." - C.S. Lewis
As I prepare for my last day with my sprouts tomorrow, this quote from the author of The Narnia Chronicles, has stuck in my head like a jingle. Something happens the last few weeks in kindergarten… it didn’t happen when I taught second grade, and I suspect it doesn’t happen in most other grades, my students, all of them, become incredibly clingy. Maybe it’s all the talk of ‘becoming a first grader’ or just the simple realization the end of our precious time together is near, but my itty bitty friends become, what my mother would refer to as, ‘Velcro puppies’. The funny thing is, while they are hanging off me at every second possible, I’m finding myself feeling the same way. When they line up to give me a hug, I’m squeezing them back with just a little more gusto. Grown men can be tenacious too. There’s another powerful quote about teaching from Carol Buchner – ‘They may forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel.” I think it’s the same for teachers. As I look back on the year, it’s not the benchmarks, data, and test results I’ll remember (for the record, they were good), it’s the affection. The love. The way they made me feel.