I’ll always seem to get depressed on the last day of school. It happens every year. I stand around and look at an empty classroom. The walls are bare. The desks are pushed to the side of the room. The resources are all boxed up. It seems unnervingly empty.
I don’t want to leave it.

But it is just an empty classroom. So why don’t I want to leave?

I think it is partly because it is hard to say goodbye. I spend a lot of time with my students every year. It is an intense period where I am concerned about their welfare, grades, potential, learning, and life overall.

When the bell rings on that last day, summer vacation starts. The students tend to run out of the school as fast as they do every day. But it is not just like everyday. When they leave on the last day, I won’t see some of them again. Some of the students will move or go to a new school next year. Most of them I will see again in September, but they will be in a different class. It’s just not the same.

I usually have two or three who stick around for a while on that last day and help me do a final clean up. It is nice to spend a little more time together so I appreciate it. When the class is finally cleaned up and everything is packed up, I hesitate to leave.

This year was a really good year too. I had a great bunch of kids and I will miss them. The year seemed to fly by. I don’t know where the time went. I just hope they had as an enjoyable a year as I had. I hope they learned everything I tried to teach them. I hope they have a great summer. I wish them all the best.

I am feeling a little blue right now. But it will pass and in some ways, I will always be connected to every student I ever taught. That’s a comforting feeling. It’s a strange feeling though and it is hard to explain. All I know is that it happens to me ever year and I’m not sure I’ve done it justice here. I guess I can sum it up as “Teacher Blues” and I’ve got quite the case of it right now.