ode to Lyman Hall and ....new things

this is probably the longest post i've ever written....i'm not all about the long stuff bc normally i don't read past paragraph two on someone else's blog...unless it really grabs my attention....but this one is more for me:)

Emotions this week are running high......i am closing a sweet, sweet chapter in my life. I am thrilled to stay at home with my sweet Julia, but there are going to be some things I miss. I have taught at Lyman Hall Elementary since 2007, and the students and teachers there have so shaped my life.....most definitely for the good. Every student I taught at that school either immigrated from a central American country or they were children of immigrants. Some people questioned why any of us would want to teach there... to those people I would say....it was one of the greatest blessings of my life. I feel as though I am one of the "lucky ones."

Last week was the last day of school but we are back for post planning....here are just some of my thoughts that have been rambling around in my heart the past few days.

I turned off the light today as I left my classroom. I took a moment to myself and just stood in complete silence. I looked at my empty classroom, closed my eyes, and dared myself to picture the beauty that had taken place the past 4 years. Though my teaching career is never over....my time is finished at this sweet place of learning. My first glance went straight to my favorite spot..my classroom library ...the place that is now all packed up....empty. I remembered getting up early on crisp, cool Saturday mornings hunting.... searching ......filtering through yard sales for books, books, and more books so that my students would have a sea of literature to choose from. I pictured students one by one thumbing through each box of books trying to find the one they would get lost in....looking for that one book that would take them somewhere beyond the present....looking for heros, looking for people to believe in, looking for love.

Then I looked at my rug....the rug where we gathered everyday to talk, learn from each other, read about slaves, read about far away countries, wars in Africa, wars in Afghanistan, read about people that God created a bit differently than us......we gathered on that carpet to talk to one another....we gathered and they allowed me to teach them....they allowed me to show them how to write and read and do math. They told me stories of their own lives....they raised their hands.....they probably chatted a little too much.....they listened to me.....to me.

I looked at my small group meeting table....I thought about all the endless conversations I had with students at that table. They shared their lives with me. They told me about journeys across deserts, about quincieras they hoped for, about why they came here..... they told me about poverty....they taught me about poverty.

Then I think beyond my classroom: the passionate teachers that taught me how to teach...they taught me how to teach with passion....they taught me to never waste a minute of a child's life. I will so miss going into the cinder block office ....oh and that rocking chair. The rocking chair that has heard more about education than it's little wooden body had ever hoped for...the rocking chair that rocked me as I shared my frustrations about any and everything education...the Rocking Chair of Therapy I shall name it:)


There are so many things I do not know....but here is what I do know: I know I will go back into the classroom again one day.....I know that for a while...Julia Moore will be my classroom. I know in my heart that I will always be a teacher ....it is truly what I was born to do....from the minute I started doing it I knew I was doing exactly what God had created me to do...but I also know that from the minute I laid eyes on that precious child God gave me I knew I was doing what I was born to do...that I was doing what He created me to do...so I am saying good bye to Lyman Hall....and saying hello to a new place....it just looks a bit differently....