Last class of the semester!

I might go on Thursday to the BBQ and yearbook signing (enough people wanted me to, and I'd love to write nice stuff about students so they can remember they're awesome).  I tried a new self-grading/movie lecture today (I met with students after they graded portfolios and discussed their grades with them; those not meeting with me watched Castle In the Sky), and I learned I need more time for such an endeavor.  I also learned that I don't know where to plug the speakers in when I'm projecting from the back of a DVD player, which earned me a certain amount of gentle mockery from the technophiles.  Anyway, I thought I'd be teaching again tomorrow morning, but they changed the schedule last minute, and I'm sad I didn't get a picture of the class.  I didn't get to say goodbye the way I wanted to.  It's a bittersweet time of year--I'm excited for the summer, for the time I get with my kids and my writing (and my woefully-neglected house), but I probably won't see many of my students again.  I care about them.  I've seen them grow (as writers and as people) for an entire year.  Individually they're astoundingly talented, and compassionate, and funny, and good.  I can't wait until they sell songs (I've got some amazing singers and musicians in the class this year), influence politics and policies, graduate with medical degrees, and publish novels (yay creative writers!).  I'll miss them all, even the ones who got defensive, or who never finished all their essays (and still came to every class!).

Gah!  I think I need to go to that barbeque after all.

I don't even want to THINK about future graduations--especially those that'll happen fifteen to seventeen years from now.  But then I found this image...