Last night I helped to host an awards ceremony and dinner for our senior students. I have worked with them for four years as a Crew advisor and have gotten to know many more through teaching them in Algebra and Geometry classes. It was a pleasure to finally see their faces as they came up to the stage to take well-deserved awards home with them.

My grade team spent a good amount of time deliberating who should earn what. There were many awards that we found deeply meaningful and some that weren't. In the end, we found that all the awards we got to choose went to students who earned them with their own powerful work. Some were fancier titles than others, but all made sense. It was really nice to be there and see families and friends cheer on each student who got an award last night. 

As I'm sure you can tell I did not achieve my goal of posting a photo from each day of my teaching this year. Maybe it was too much to focus on that as well as the pedagogy of my daily schedule. Or perhaps I wasn't motivated enough. Or maybe it was all the things that happened in my life over the past month and a half but I won't be able to complete the project. Instead, I'll just write about my personal experiences again without the proxy of photos. 

Today I sat on two presentation panels for students to complete their requirements for graduation. One was good - persistent, effortful, and detailed in his work. The other was outstanding - methodical, detail-oriented, making connections with outside-of-school items in a way that impressed me immensely. These two students demonstrate how you can put in a lot of effort as a teacher and see the wonderful outcomes over the years. While I have never had either of these students in my own classes, I am privileged to be a small part of their lives today.

​After these presentations I sat in my classroom with a coworker just chatting with two other students about their end-of-school experience, graduation, classes, ice cream, travel, and more. It was an honest 40 minutes talking with kids who are becoming young adults and moving on in their lives to college next year. I really appreciated the time they spent with me, indulging my puns and being earnest and honest in their responses to questions about their future. I wish them both well.

I'm hoping next school year I'll have a project of a similar ilk as the photo-a-day idea but perhaps involved less intense effort so I can complete it everyday.