The End of the School Year is Finally Here!! (A Lesson in Being Present in the Moment)
The 2017-2018 school year has come to an end for me. This one went by REALLY fast. (In fact, each year seems to go faster than the last. I'm not sure how I feel about it.) The last month of school has been a frenzy of grading the last projects and assessments of the year, attending school events, keeping stir-crazy kids under control, and worrying about how everything is going to get done. There is a sense of urgency to the end of the year that's different from any other time of the year. So many work items come due at once. The last report card is given out on the last day of school, so all work from the quarter has to be graded and recorded by a deadline. (And in Catholic primary school, 8th graders get out three weeks earlier than everyone else so the urgency starts with them and goes on until the end of the year.) I have to complete a goal progress summary at the end of the year, which means time spent designing assessments for the students on my chosen goal, giving th...