My Last Day at the High School

For the most part, it was business as usual. Busy-ness, I should say. Finding resources for teachers, helping students with their projects, and cluing in the student who hit the "mic off" button on the headset/mic he was using to record commentary on his VoiceThread (but thankfully, after all the trials we went through in the beginning with recording, this was something we easily could resolve!).

At one point in the morning, Dr. Red and I took some time for her to review the blog post I'd written for her blog about my field experience. The pressure was on a little bit because it's for her professional blog, and she does have a pretty decent following. I'm kicking myself a little bit for having stayed up for the ballgame last night and deciding to sleep in and skip washing my hair in the morning--she added my picture to the post! It's not a terrible picture, but my hair is pretty flat. Not to mention past due for a haircut owing to household budget tightening. Sorry, I can't link to the blog for confidentiality reasons, but I think it accurately summed up how much I've soaked up since I started. She made a couple of edits but said she thought it was really well done. I think that's going in the portfolio I have due at the end of the course. I'm published!

At lunchtime I said goodbye to a couple of the regular lunch crew, the technology coach and the media teacher, and they asked about what I was doing next and wished me luck. Nice fellas.

The student teacher with whom I'd been doing a lot of collaboration was out sick today (not surprising because she was looking a little green yesterday), so it was a little bit of a bummer not to get the chance to say goodbye to her. Fortunately, I have her e-mail address, so I'm going to drop her a line this weekend. I have to remind her to ask security about taking my designated parking space--it'll be less of a walk for her.

At the end of the day, the library cleared out (it's Friday and the library closes early), and I got ready to go. Dr. Red surprised me with a card and a gift. And really, I was surprised. Not to mention touched. Before I knew it I was in tears. She didn't understand, and I didn't want to tell her. . . Six weeks with her, and in addition to everything she's taught me, every question she patiently answered, every reassurance she provided, she gives me a gift. Two, actually:

Very fashionable, yes?

Six years with my prior company, and I got lunch with a handful of people, a gift from my closest co-worker, and a card from a co-worker I'd known for only a couple of months. Not bad, but after six years? Understanding my surprise now? People don't often do nice things for me, and I don't expect it from them. You might call it a coping skill.

In any event, Dr. Red wished me well and told me I'm going to be a great librarian. I got hugs from her, from the two wonderful ladies on staff, and said goodbye to the library.

I'm looking forward to what's coming, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to miss the high school library.