Closing Time
Saying Goodbye (Again)
Last week, my fifth-graders had their continuation ceremony. The last day is always bittersweet. We have all been counting down to the last day of school, but when it finally arrives, it’s scary to say goodbye to elementary school. For many students, they have been in the same building since Kindergarten, and the thought of moving on to middle school is fraught with anxiety and sadness. There are always a few tears shed.
This school year was my 23rd year in public education. I have lots of practice saying goodbye to students. On the last day of school, I’ve hugged my crying students and chatted with those lingering a little longer because they just weren’t ready to go home. Some students make an effort to say goodbye, and some just vanish with the final bell. I always invite them to stay in touch with me. I intentionally set up our classroom learning management system to be perpetually active through high school so that they can message me any time. Sometimes during the school year, I will notice a little red dot above the envelope in my header indicating that I have an unread message waiting.
I love hearing about how my students fare in middle school. Every once in a while, I’ll receive a message from a graduating senior asking me to attend their graduation. Most students, though, get on with their lives and are quickly subsumed in the bustle of school. I don’t hear from them, and that’s okay. My time with my fifth-graders isn’t meant to last forever, and so I work to great memorable learning experiences. There is no guarantee, though, that students will feel any sort of lasting connection to their fifth-grade teacher. If I do my job well, students leave my classroom prepared for their next adventure. Even if they still have gaps in their learning or struggle academically, they got to spend a year in a classroom where love and humanity rein supreme.
So, before I say goodbye to my students, knowing that that I might never see or hear from them again, I give one last lecture. You can call it a mini-commencement speech, or just some unsolicited advice that I force my students must sit and listen to before receiving their certificate because their families are all watching from the audience.
Each year, I tweak my presentation based on the group sitting before me. There are always a few recommendations that I keep every year because I believe that every student should work hard and be kind and be themselves. This year, I focused on having a good attitude, seeking to understand, being grateful, and always working to do better each day. Whether they follow my advice or not, at least I got one last lecture.
Closing Time
Next year, I will be teaching inside the main building, which meant that I spent the last week of school dismantling my classroom in preparation for the move. I’ve been teaching in a mobile classroom for two years, and in that time, I’ve had some challenging moments and some incredible experiences with my students.
Throughout everything, one maxim sticks with me: Teach the students you have. And so, for the last 23 years, this is what I try to do. Whether I have 28 students crammed into a tiny mobile classroom or 20 of the most challenging students of my career, each year I work to create a learning environment that gives students what they need to be successful. I would be lying if I expounded on how to effectively transform a group of low-achieving, recalcitrant students into lifelong learners with high test scores. The truth is that each year for the last 23 years, I do my best to be an effective teacher. At the end of every school year, when I say goodbye, once again, I sit in my empty classroom and wonder if I could have done more. I reflect and question the thousands of interactions I had with them, wondering if I did right by my students.
Something about the end of this year feels more bittersweet as I take down my posters and box up my belongings. Perhaps packing up my classroom and turning off the lights feels like a more definite close than when I just tidy up before summer break.
Closing time, open all the doors
And let you out into the world
Closing time, turn all of the lights on
Over every boy and every girl.
“Closing Time” by Semisonic
From the first day of school to last goodbye, this has been quite a school year! I had one of the largest class sizes in recent memory (27 students) and the most boys (18). With so many boys and so few girls, some days felt like I was managing a frat house more than a fifth-grade classroom. Amidst all of the conflict, we had some great learning experiences, from our Socratic Readers Guilds and March Book Madness, to laughing over Mr. Neibauer’s BINGO. We had some incredible poetry discussions and a beautiful Poetry Out Loud experience. It was fascinating to watch the choreography of my classroom, thinking about how I decenter my whiteness in my classroom.
Even if I can’t be sure that my students are fully ready for middle school, or that they will remember every lesson I taught them, I hope they will always look back on our time together as a classroom full of love and learning and our whole, authentic selves.
I am not yet finished moving my classroom, so I still have some moments of quiet to reflect on this school year. Once I turn in my end-of-year checklist, that’ll be it!
I expect to spend about a month or so decompressing and resting. At some point in late July or early August, I’ll start getting excited about the start of my 24th year of teaching, and creating a new learning environment. But for now, I’m left wondering what new beginning will come from this beginning’s end. Stay tuned!
Whether you are almost finished with the school year, or just finished, have a great week and a restful summer!
— Adrian
Resources
I made a playlist to commemorate surviving, yet another, school year. Enjoy!
Fellow teacher (and Substacker), Colby Sharp, recently shared a wonderful experience he created for his former fifth-graders, now graduating seniors. It reminded me of Then vs. Now: McCallie 6th Grade Self Childhood Questions and the Dear Future Me project, started by New Jersey teacher Richard Palmgren.
ICYMI, I wrote an open letter to my students at the end of the 2023-2024 school year. That was a very challenging group of students, and so I focused on our defining moments from that year. It turns out that no matter the struggles, we always seem to have some peak moments.
I’m fan of well-written commencement speeches. Brad Meltzer delivers an incredible speech about empathy and kindness. If you really want to shock the world, unleash your kindness. I highly recommend this video!
Tim Urban helped Meltzer write his commencement speech, so I rewatched one of my favorite TED talks about being a master procrastinator. I still use his metaphor of having a monkey mind!
I happened to read Peter Greene’s 20 Rules for Life (2025 edition) the night before my last lecture to students. His advice is great and pushed me to tweak my own speech before the last day of school.
WHY DOES THE MOBILE LOOK LIKE THAT?? It’s like the first day was yesterday. Of course we’ll stay in touch! Still doing khan academy!! Best teach ever!
Happy summer!!! Your students are going to miss you so much.