A sea of red

I spent the evening in St. Joe for my first graduation as a teacher. It was an amazing feeling, watching these kids, many of whom I'd grown quite fond of, take that fateful walk across the stage. I know I'll never see many of these kids again, and that makes me sad. I hope I've played at least a small part in helping them become great people, though. There was so much promise in evidence in that sea of red.

I shook one young man's hand in the parking lot. This gentleman had given me quite a fit of trouble in class, because he was enrolled in the class against his will and without a need for the credit. Therefore, he decided not to work or take the tests. It created a big row, including one fight that involved the principals. He apologized to me there in the parking lot for causing all the trouble. I wanted to say to him, "Take your apology to heart, then, and only make good decisions from now on." I wanted to say to him, "All I ever wanted was for you to want to reach your potential." I wanted to say to him, "Don't apologize to me, because it doesn't affect me. You let yourself down." I didn't say any of those things, though. I just accepted his apology and wished him well in his (well-planned-out) future. I still have a lot to learn.

For now, it's time to put these kids out of my mind, play a lot of XBox, and try to recover enough hit points to be ready to go back in come August. I have a thousand (mostly bad) ideas to make Geometry teaching more student-centered and engaging, so maybe kids like the handshaker above won't feel compelled to rebel against it. I'll let you all know what I come up with.