Halfway to Graduation

Yesterday was a bittersweet and emotional day. It was my last day with my sixth graders. At the beginning of this placement I was so scared about being in sixth grade. I was most worried about teaching math, I have to admit I really stink at math. As this last eight weeks have went by I have fallen completely in love with each of my sixth graders. They all have such amazing and different personalities. I never imagined that I would become so attached to them so quickly. First thing in the morning I was bombarded with cards and presents. My cooperating teacher even got me the most amazing teacher bag with my future married name on it, my first thing with my married name that I have! Of course, I immediateky started crying. The rush of emotions of leaving these kids and realizing how close our wedding really is completely made me loose it. Through this time with sixth grade I have come to realize I can do this. I am capable of teaching older kids. I am capable of having fun and presenting amazing lessons that the students are acutally excited to talk about. Throughout this time I have done a huge unit on the planets in our solar system. The kids have fallen in love with science due to this unit. Everyday they wanted to know if we could do science or they would bring in exciting information they had found on a planet. Things like that help you to know what and how you are teaching is have a major effect on the kids and makes you want to keep going. One of my students even wrote me a card that read "You're cooler than Neptune." At the end of the day I took the kids outside to play. I took my dad's video camera and had all the kids get together and wave. The kids began to count down from 3-2-1 and without my knowing they all shouted, "We love you Ms. Auten!" My heart melted and the waterworks started again. I have been so blessed to have been put in this classroom with these kids. I will never forget this amazing experience. I feel like I should be staying with them to continue to watch them transform and mature. My cooperating teacher was telling me that after Christmas the kids change so much. I plan to attend their Christmas pageant and graduation at the end of the school year. It is going to be so different to see them in such a new light. I feel I have had a major impact on their lives. These were an awesome group of kids that I know will succeed and go far in life. I can not wait to keep up with their lives and see where life takes them. Next I am going to Kindergarten. I am now TERRIFIED of Kindergarten. I feel I was made for higher grades and right now I am in "sixth grade mode." It is going to be hard to adjust to being around little kids that are learning the alphabet instead of algebra and the planets in the solar system. I know I am capable of anything I set my mind to. I know I can make it through Kindergarten and I feel I will even grow to be good at it. I am halfway to graduation and the light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter. Sometimes it feels it is coming too fast. I am not ready to be a college graduate. I still feel like I am a little kid, not a grown up. Two weeks after becoming a college graduate I will become a wife. This year is such an amazing year for Chris and I along with our families. We are closing one chapter in our lives and opening our own new story. Am I ready to be a grown up? In my heart, I know I am but at the same time it is hard to let go of being little.