FINAL MONDAY

The last week of school. The first day of the last week at school. My last Monday at YLC. Bittersweet? Well, I would lean more to the "sweet" end of things. Being in Goshen with friends and family made me REALLY miss being there and going to school, however, my duty is here for another week, so I must make the best of it. As tempting as it was to skip my plane ride back, and just stay in Goshen, I had to be responsible. But is it a sin to be happy that a placement is about over? I do not feel like it is. Does it sound bad that I am ready to be done and back to a normal life and a more organized life? Sometimes I feel like this is unfair to the people here, yet, I have done my duty, served my time and learned a lot. Is there more that could be learned, quite possibly, but I am ready for a change, and the end is now in sight!

Last week always equals exam week. We must see what our student have learned in the semester to see our success as teachers, and their success as students. Today, I gave the spelling final that I wrote on the plane ride back. FIve whole pages of spelling words, for them to correct, and remember the definitions. It has been quite a few weeks since some of them have seen these words, so I let them review for about and hour then handed out the test. They worked very quietly surprisingly, however, after an hour and half, since it wasn't new anymore, they started talking. They have to constantly have new things, otherwise, they are not happy. I gave them a break over lunch, did a math lesson with them, then gave them the tests back to finish. Since it was a new thing again, they worked quietly for the remainder of the day on these tests. And wouldn't you know, these boys that had trouble reading first grade books were all doing spelling tests with the words: phenomenon, government, wharf, embargo, everything, sister-in-law, great-aunt, and believe. This was amazing. I have never been so happy to go through a test, especially a final, and NOT make red marks all over it. What a rewarding feeling.

Now, to continue on with the rest of the week, and giving a different final each day will be another test for all of us involved. Will they get burnt out on tests and not try on the last several? I hope not. I hope the A's, B's, and C's continue to be made. TODAY...was a good day! :)