I never finished

It occurred to me today I never finished. Oh, I finished student teaching, I passed all my tests, I cleaned all my stuff out of my room (I think) but I didn't really finish.

I didn't say goodbye to the students. I couldn't. I don't know how teachers say goodbye at the end of every school year.

So two days after I left, I was back to substitute. It had been arranged ahead of time; my supervising teacher was taking a class on a field trip, so in a way I didn't feel bad about not telling the kids I was leaving, since I knew I would see them at least one more time anyway.

I had mixed reactions. 1st period acted like they didn't notice I had been gone. 3rd period was mad because I was the sub and I made them do actual work. 6th period acted like they had not seen me in a year and all hugged me. No class 7th period, but it was cold and I had stragglers who wanted to just sit around and chat with me show up for the period. So that day I really did tell them goodbye. I will miss all of them, but especially those problem kids that got under my skin. Will they graduate? Some yes, some no. Some I can't help but worry about.

So now I'm just the sub, waiting for my own class to worry about. I can't wait!