lovefest

so, we had our "bridging ceremony" today with our sophomores. in our heads, when we were most tired and disgruntled, we called it "the good riddance gala" and when we were feeling more optimistic, we called it the "sophomore sendoff celebration." i mean, for better or for worse, we've given these kids two years of our lives and it's worth making a stink about it.

it was so great. i haven't felt this positive about school for a long long time, but it was great, doing a "top ten" list of our favorite memories, and then giving each kid a special award. it wasn't anything fabulous ... some of them were pretty hokey ... but each one was tailored specifically for each kid. like the helpful kid got the "santa's little helper" award, or the nice kid got the "mr. congeniality award." the kid that stopped coming to school, of course, got the "invisible man award" and this was only fitting because he didn't show, naturally. then there were the "most likely" awards. "most likely to sleep through a world war." "most likely to become a foreign ambassador" and the like. but it was great, because for all their bitching, the kids know each other very well, and it was cute watching them trying to guess who was going to get what award.

the key to our sendoff was the element of surprise. if we told them about it beforehand, we'd never hear the end of the "this is gay ... this is hella stupid ... let's cut." but because it was a surprise, it was well-received, because at least they got to miss two periods of class. and it was helpful to remind them of how far they'd come. it was also sweet because they spontaneously started clapping for each other after each award, and they do have quite a bit of affection for some of our more colorful characters. it was just nice to see them be positive and laugh together as a house at some of the memories we've shared these last two years.

after we did awards (which took forever), our counselor had her say, and the principal had his say, and then we did special thanks to our student teacher and full time volunteer jennywei. we made a time capsule, and kids put their final reflections into it, along with some small object of import. it got very cheesy when all four of us held onto the box (while playing pomp and circumstance, mind you) and walked it ten feet over to our junior teachers to keep until their graduation two years from now.

what was special was when each of us four house teachers had a chance to say a few words ourselves. i don't know why i wanted the last word, but meghan, kristin, and deb each said something, and then the moment i got up there, scott was all "oh god. here we go. miss chiu is SO going to cry." and of course, i did. i told them that for better or worse, we'd made it through the two years together. and even though sometimes it was really hard, we loved them and thought the world of them. i told them that maybe teachers in the past hadn't believed in them, but that we knew them to be an incredibly gifted group and that they could do and be anything and anyone they wanted to be if they put their minds to it. and when i told them that we were proud of them, that's when i broke down bawling. which totally set off a bunch of kids. one of them, alex, came up to hug me, and then we all kind of got nostalgic together. damn, i'm a crybaby.

at the very end, our house administrator brian got up and had his say. it's funny, because the kids love him, even though he's incredibly profane with them when he's shouting at them and suspending them. and he has suspended MANY of our children. but it was so funny when he was like "well, guys, if i haven't suspended you yet, we still have two years." so true. jj, dina, monica, the whole nine yards -- they all know him too well. it was doubly fabulous to have him follow that up with "and between you and me, we both know that marrakech is the best house." and all the children, who bitch about how they hate slc's and how they hate our house and how they hate us ... they all cheered.

but it was a really good thing for me personally. for all the difficult times that i've kvetched about my students, i care about them incredibly, and it's going to be hard to let my babies go. i feel like i'm just starting to see them grow up and then i have to revert to squirrelly freshmen again.

this group is special. there are a lot of very good students, but i think that there are many breakout students that are exceptional. some real diamonds in the rough that i'm hoping will continue to press on and realize that they are able learners. i'm looking forward to hearing them do great things, because i truly do believe that they can. if travis will believe in himself, i know he will do something incredible. if yara continues on the path she's barrelling down, i know that she's going to do something fabulous. i believe in adam's abilities. i believe that dina is going to mature beautifully. i know kayla will make it. i know mateo and carlos could do something special together as a team. aryn is going to freaking change the world. all my babies are bright. most of them just have to stop smoking weed and drinking like fish long enough to realize their potential.

i think this was just what the doctor ordered to end the year on a high note. i'm feeling like friggin's jaime escalante and his caaaahlcooooluuuusssss class. i'm proud of my babies.

it's great to be a teacher today.