One has not lived until you’ve experienced Picture Day in a school of 620+ students. Add the staff on top of that and you have one crazy day. I’m not sure where the picture company found the photographers we met. My class was last and they hadn’t run out of the building screaming, although they looked like they had been through a storm.
Picture Day always starts the same. Children enter the room looking like little people you’ve never met before. They are scrubbed and combed while wearing their best clothing. They walk in with directions from mom that they are not to adjust anything. Breathing is okay. Anything else? Optional. Probably just DON’T.
In the world of things that make sense, a 1st Grade class would be photographed right after Kinder, first thing in the morning. We are talking littles. In an hour, curls are gone. Gel is disturbed. Kids DO things. The look is gone.
Yesterday, that wouldn’t be the case. Everyone was photographed before lunch except my class. They got a full lunch and lunch recess to finish off their look. A group of hot little 1st graders waited in line after lunch, wrinkled and sweaty.
Yesterday, I learned that 1st graders are just learning to button shirts. One little boy could button, just not in the right order. I learned gel works on a 1st grader for about an hour. Many can tie their shoes, but many more cannot. All those things really don’t matter, because my class never loses their smiles. And, that is most precious part of 1st grade.
For my LAST teacher pic, I wore a floral dress and pearls. My hair, quite long at this point, was down for the picture. This caused quite the commotion in class, as the children don’t see me this way during school. 20 littles told me I was beautiful. Littles never lie. I’ll take their compliments any day of the week.
After all the kids were photographed, it was my turn. Because it would be the last school picture of my career, the technician carefully adjusted my hair and took a little extra time with the pose and then, with a click, it was over. She showed me the photo. Not the best, not the worst. Just a snapshot of an attractive senior citizen in a floral dress and pearls. Memories of all the Picture Days from long ago filled me with so many emotions. I was glad the photo didn’t reveal the tiniest of tears welling behind my lids. Saying “Goodbye” to a career is a hard thing to do, especially when it takes a school year to do so.
These days, I do feel like the most beautiful of teachers. My heart is full when I’m watching them learning to read, write, add, and subtract. They are learning how to be respectful and responsible in school in the first year of real school. I’m carefully setting the expectations for the next 12 years of their education. I don’t take that task lightly.
For everything there is a season. A time to learn and a time to teach. A time to work and a time to retire. I needed this last year to end a brilliant career on my own terms. I’m so blessed with this chance to get the last year right.
More tomorrow.