Another year down ... this is my 20th year of teaching and for the most part I still like it! One of the things that has helped me "survive" this long is the acceptance that every year will provide its challenges - and those challenges are there to keep me developing and learning. The challenges can be the particular group of students, the curriculum or staff, but they all are there to make me better. Once I came to this view of things, I was better able to work through these and see them in a positive light. I must admit, early in my career, these challenges were often interpreted as personal failings .... now looking back, I see that it was a rather self centered and immature view of things. So yes, I'm older and wiser but now look for the challenges to ensure that I continue to learn. I figure the day I stop learning is the day I had better find a new line of work!
One activity I started a few years ago was putting together a scrapbook page of my classes that I posted on the last day, thanking them for another great year. Every year there has been such a positive response to it with students asking for copies of the photo. For me, taking time to thank them as well as shaking every single person's hand on the way out, wishing them the very best, has made the last day one I look forward to all year (and not just for the obvious reason!). This years group will be remembered fondly as they were a very important part of my graduate studies, and through the use of technology I have coming to know my students in a much deeper way than I have ever done before. I am thankful for all 97 of them!
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