May 18, 2012
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1 Wow.
2 Last day for seniors.
3 This senior class is sort of special to me, because they are the first senior class I had at the Chill as an English 1A teacher. I had moved out of activities and into a brand new building that overlooked the hills, and given the brightest freshmen in the district.
4 Quite a change, and I rose to it. They were a dazzling bunch, full of hopes and dreams, and I got to ride that wave. All ears and braces.
5 This year, I got a whole bunch of them back as seniors, so this year's seniors are a pretty special bunch.
6 I have two classes with seniors, and we've had a beautiful ride all year because of that connection. I lived through a lot of their experiences and anxieties, and yesterday brought some soul into all of it.
7 We spent the last part of the year splashing around in a metaphorical wading pool while the rest of the school stressed and stressed. My deal was, why stress? Go out with nothing but fun and laughs.
8 And we did. We studied Midsummer, Much Ado, and Shrew, full-screen stereo in the Theater.
9 Yesterday my room turned back into the Cafe Verona. I had Starbuck's lamps, a microphone, and a poetic setting. I taught the tunes of Simon and Garfunkel, included their history, and even brought in the story of The Graduate and its eternal link to the duo. I told them of my seeing them in Berkeley, a Paul Simon concert in which Garfunkel appeared at the end, and they sang America and Old Friends, and I told them of my seeing them just a eight or nine years ago at the Pavilion, one of the most intensely awesome concerts I have ever seen.
10 I explained their history of having grown up in New York, of the coffee houses, and of their subsequent fame.
11 And I played their music, much of it written a billion years ago, but I let them listen to a recording of the Old Friends' tour from 2004, which they finished in Rome before purportedly 600,000 people.
12 They listened to The Sound of Silence, Scarborough Fair (I sang the canticle, because it wasn't done on the live recording), the 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy), and I pulled out my guitar and sang America, followed by the obscure but awesome Punky's Dilemma. When I sang to my third period seniors, I sang beautifully. That's something I haven't done in a while.
13 I guess that's what happens when you sing from the heart.
14 I also threw in I Can't Help Falling in Love With You, just as a tribute to Elvis. No Beatles this time around. Honk once.
15 It was painfully beautiful, because I'm going to miss those guys. I had two lovely senior classes this year, and today I go in and we are having my annual Cafe Verona, where I sell Starbuck's for five cents, and provide food, a coffee house atmosphere, and we have the students read their favorite original poem, all with Miles Davis music, a lava lamp, and delicate rhythms and rhymes.
16 It's a wonderful send off to students who have done it all, and who have been tortured with two weeks of finals, AP exams, end-of-the year projects, sleepless nights and puffy eyes.
17 I chose to take the road not taken, and to give them rewards for all the hard work they have put in these four years. Sue me.
18 There will be tears, I'll tell you that much. Fortunately, next Wednesday I was told I must go to Great America to supervise their senior day. I am to report to "work" at 9, and to spend the day with my seniors.
19 Or is it Raging Waters? I can't remember. Either way. It will take the sadness away from today, and will be the day before the last day of school. Pretty nice entrance into summer, I should say.
20 Today will still be an emotional day, but a huge party for all my students, not just the seniors. Food, jazz, sunglasses, coffee, and poetry all day long. I'd better get a little sleep, because I have to run all this stuff up to the school early to get set up.
21 But what a lovely ending to one of the loveliest years I ever spent teaching.
22 I'm going to miss my seniors, something I haven't had to do in my last few years teaching English 1. I always wanted English 2 and 4, and now that I have it, I see how tough it is to say good-byes to seniors. Sweet kids, honestly.
23 They're really scared and disoriented. One student said that it was like waiting on the side of a pool for someone to tell you it's okay to jump in. I agree.
24 What a year. Looking back, I really did have a lot of fun once I caught up with all the grading.
25 This is clearly the last day of school. Next week is finals, which is really just a weird ritual for the underclassmen. It's like walking around lost in a Western.
26 That's the way it has always been. So today is planned pefectly. I give a huge party, and in the end, I'll be in my classroom cleaning up until almost 6 p.m. And then I'll close my door, walk out to the empty parking lot, and drive home.
27 That's what will happen beginning in about an hour and a half.
28 So to sleep, at least for a bit.
29 And then I get to live in a wildly fun cartoon today.
30 Happy Friday, everybody.
31 I hope yours becomes a wildly fun cartoon as well.
32 You can make it that, even if it's in your own head.
33 Have a great one, and as always, fly low.
34 Live life.
35 Love life.
36 Peace.
~H~
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