Take a Moment to Stop - And Enjoy the End of the School Year!

“Hey Jake,” Bill, our school custodian, stopped me as I sped down the hallway with a list of things to accomplish, “did you see the beautiful, blooming dogwood out in front of the school?”

“Yeah, it looks great,” I said as I shrugged him off in ways only busy teachers understand.

“I’m serious man, come here,” he said. “You need to stop for a second and look at this thing.” He blocked me from continuing down the hallway and ushered me over to the tree. Perturbed, I gave him The Look, but he persisted anyway.

When we reached a view of glowing white flower petals reflecting in the early morning sunlight, I stopped for a second and put down my papers and my thoughts. He had done me a favor. He told me I needed to take a moment to stop – and enjoy life’s blessings.

And I couldn’t thank him more for it.

The end of the school year is always a frantic time. There a projects, papers, and finals to grade. We do this because we want students learning and working for as long and hard as we can push them. This is our last chance to put the final polish on their education; our last few moments to, as they do on Master Chef, “plate our work.” Take note chefs – we also take presentation very seriously.

However, as the year ends, it’s important for us to take a moment and enjoy the students in our classes, some of whom we’ll never cross paths with again. While I’ll see Bill at the end of August (who am I kidding – I’ll see him in our first week of summer as I continue to refine my curriculum and decorate my “new” classroom), there are 145 students in my classroom that I may never see again. My chances of seeing the 75 seventh graders are quite high, but the 70 or so eight graders who will travel to the high school will join a graduating class of over 700 students and mix into a new environment, leaving their middle school years and me behind them.

I need to take a moment to stop and enjoy.

Secondly, there are 7 staff members retiring that may, as well, become strangers. The first of which is our choir teacher, who at just 28 has decided to turn in her teaching badge to explore an incredible education experience in Washington, D.C. The second and third include a special education teacher and an aide who have become the best of friends and decided to ride out into the sunset together. The fourth is a gorgeous, humorous physical education teacher who doesn’t look a day over 45 let alone 60. The fifth is a sweet reading teacher who has taught 6^th grade for nearly 37 years. The final two are a husband and wife pair of social studies teachers who have impacted my colleagues and me more profoundly than I can measure in words. Combined these retirees, have more than 150 years of experience and have probably taught nearly 35,000 students in their varying capacities.

I need to take a moment to stop and enjoy.

So as you put rubber to the end-of-the-year road, hopefully you have a Bill or somebody in your school to encourage you to hit the brakes. At least a few times daily, do nothing but stand there with open eyes and thoughts. It doesn’t have to be a dogwood or the glimmering dawn sun; someone just needs to highlight some experience that you can stop and enjoy. If not, well, find something – just as Bill did – to stop your colleagues in their tracks so that they can enjoy it, too.

Enjoyment has to start somewhere. They'll thank you for it.