December 19, 2013 was my last official day of student contact with the South Bend Community School Corporation. It was a good day--a breakfast I prepared, a Christmas calculator activity, the reading of Luke 2 and Matthew 2 and the presentation of certificates. We had seven students present. My husband came and enjoyed seeing this part of my life. My replacement came at the end and stayed with me afterwards chatting.
The certificates--I never do something like this with total ease, but with some help from others, I was able to print up several. The recognition was for perfect attendance for one student, for academic gains in reading, math, and language for five others and for the last two newer students, participation in class. D forgot his certificates when he left and called to make sure I was there so he could come back and get them. I was touched at how important they were to him.
The reading of the Christmas stories--no one knew how to find Luke 2 in the Bibles I handed out. M protested that she went to church every week however! D commented that she didn't know there were Christmas stories in the Bible! She is one of our better students. When she read aloud, she stumbled over words like "Herod" and "Messiah", obviously not a part of her cultural vocabulary. I know we are a public school setting--even if located in a building owned by a church. But this has become a part of my Christmas tradition.
I did not grieve at the end of the session. I cleaned up the party mess and brought some work home. I'll go in again to work on purging files and taking some more things home.
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