So close yet so far

The days are getting longer, the birds are chirping outside my classroom window, and summer is right around the corner.  Teachers and students alike are counting down the days until June 5th.  Even though its Monday, it means we are one week closer to the finish line.  I am excited, but I also know there is a lot of work still to be done in my classroom.  It's around this time that some teachers may start to "check out".  Lessons are less planned, the absences increase, and rules are not enforced like they once were.  I get it, with the end so close we question what difference we can still make and give up all together, but we still owe it to the students and ourselves to finish the year strong.  If neither of those get you going, think about the teacher next year.  Give students the information they need until the very last day of school.  Help their future teachers have a better year and make sure the student has a fighting chance in the next grade. 

 If we are going to expect our students to work hard through May, we ourselves need to work hard for them.  When your lessons slip, they notice.  When you're absent, they see it.  Just last week I stopped doing a procedure in my class because I was lazy last Friday and they all called me out.   As we enter the last six weeks my goal is to work just as hard as I did during the first six weeks.  Every single one of my students deserves that.  I choose this job not for the summers off, but because all students deserve a classroom they learn in.