All the trees of the field will clap their hands...

Monday is my last day to teach for this school year and summer vacation begins. I survived, but barely. I've been extremely busy since my classes ended at UMKC nearly a month or so ago and wrapping up my school year at Holy Name is a welcomed relief.

Overall, I feel like I did an adequate job teaching so many students in one day with zero prep time between classes. I had a great parent volunteer helping me with my youngest students and I nearly memorized all 133 student names. Of course, I learned, primarily the hard way, how not to discipline my students, or how not to make homemade "clay." In fact, when I think back on my first year as a teacher I spend more time considering what I will try my hardest NOT to do again next year. As usual, I focus on much of what I didn't get right, instead of what I did.

Last week our school had the annual Spring Concert and Art Show. It's an opportunity for the kids to share with their parents a few songs and their art projects from the year. This year the science fair projects were also on display and a red eyed rat made her debut. Of course I put off hanging the artwork, thinking I had plenty of time before the show. As a result, two of my girlfriends ended up staying up late with me the night before the show helping to hang the artwork. The picture above is of Robbie flipping a 5th grader's painting after the concert because I had hung it upside down the night before. (Lesson: never procrastinate and don't hang artwork at 10:30 pm...especially when you're Catie and your bedtime is around 9 pm on a good night.) Once again, I focused on what I thought was missing, what could have been displayed sooner, better, right-side up.

The concert portion of the evening was held in the sanctuary of the church, a large, typical Catholic church sanctuary with the worst acoustics and hardest pews ever. I watched the darling little Kindergartners sing their songs with robust voices and off-beat tempos and when they were done watched their faces beam with joy when the crowd clapped for their achievement. Each grade went through their own portion of the concert and each child relished the praise they received from the sanctuary filled with parents, family members and teachers.

At some point in the evening my principal acknowledged the Holy Name teachers and then she asked me to stand. "Mrs. Knight, where are you? Would you please stand?" Of course, I did what I was told and then a remarkable thing happened. The crowd clapped for me. I was being thanked for my one day a week art teaching gig. A lump caught in my throat and I sat down and realized that despite my many failings this year I was still welcomed to return next year and try it all over again. I had parents pull me aside that night to tell me how much their children love my class. My fellow teachers sent me encouraging emails letting me know how much the children loved seeing their art up on the cafeteria walls.

Praise, even for the tiniest of achievements, does remarkable things for the soul. In many, many ways I was a pretty unsuccessful teacher this last year, but every time I see one of my students and they run up to me waving, "Hi Mrs. Knight!!!" I am quickly reminded that I want and need to be a better teacher for them.

This next year for me is going to bring a whole new set of challenges. I will be student teaching, finishing up my final coursework, scrambling to complete what is required to graduate in May and studying to take the big PRAXIS exam so I can become a certified teacher. It's all pretty overwhelming when I think of it collectively. It's really been good for me to spend time with Kindergartners and 1st graders who taught me that a little clapping can go a long way.