Happiness

Happiness is not wearing a mask the last week of school.  I keep feeling exposed without it, but then I remember I don't have to wear it and that is a fabulous feeling!

Happiness is seeing my students without masks.  One of the 4th grade teachers told me, "It makes me want to cry because I'm so happy to see their faces!"  Yes!  A thousand times yes!

Happiness is the conspiratorial smile one of my students gave me when I made a plan with her to keep her book safe over the summer.   She got a book as a reward and promptly put it on my shelf.  I told her she could take it home and she explained that her little brothers destroyed books (as evidenced by the fact that she owes money for her destroyed library book).  I know for a fact that her home life is chaotic and I also know that she probably doesn't have any books at home.  She wanted to give me the book and that broke my heart a little.  I said, "How about this, I'll keep the book until your brothers are older and don't destroy books so much."  I put the book on a shelf with my teacher manuals where it will be safe.  She was thrilled with the solution.  I just want them all to have books at home, but they don't.  I will have to make sure my classroom is chock full of books.  

Happiness is the teacher dance at the dance festival.  We did the dress rehearsal yesterday and some teachers are heroes and I'm with the other non dancer villains.  We "fight" each other and then Jami, our principal, emerges from a tower dressed as Spiderman.  He shot all the villains with silly string and the kids lost their minds.  Then he took off the mask and they saw it was Mr. Dawson (or Mr. Awesome as a lot of them call him which can't be good for his ego) and they screamed like they were at a rock concert.  

My students kept asking me, "When did you practice?"  Maybe they think I fold up and power down when they aren't in the classroom.

Happiness is this on my kitchen table:

Maybe it was no big deal for you to get a diploma in the hands of your covid senior, but I feel very grateful that it is done.

His actual graduation is Wednesday but they got the diplomas yesterday as bait to go to the assembly where they practiced graduation.  I don't know, it's almost like they've dealt with seniors before....