Graduation is one month from today in my school district (watch me do a cartwheel out of sheer joy), but the end of the school year is ALWAYS such a weird and stressful time for teachers. This week begins state End of Course tests for students in certain subject areas, and next week will start two weeks of AP testing. The next three weeks become a game of hit/miss to see which students will be in my classes on what days, which makes lesson planning incredibly difficult. Add in senioritis, Prom, burnout in both students and teachers, trying to get in teaching new material which will be on the final exam despite students being out for standardized testing, preparing students for final exams, and just end-of the-year stuff. It can be very overwhelming for everyone.
I have been teaching now for almost 25 years, and although I know from experience that this is how this time of the year will always be, it still does not make it any easier to endure. I always liken the end of the school year to a runaway train - regardless of how I feel, the train is not going to stop whether I like it or not, so the only thing which I can do is to just hold on and to ride it out. Complaining and venting about it will not stop the train.
However, at the same time, wow - I have almost made it through another rather somewhat-weird year of teaching (nothing like the previous two though!). I can celebrate that! Despite being on this runaway train, I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
