MEET ME INSIDE, MEET ME INSIDE
The students already dispersed. They left desks misaligned, books out-of-place, looseleaf discarded, and the only adult in the room weary. Last period is almost always exhausting, but, after a week of filing, organizing, and getting the last bit of learning into students, this’ll drain even the most ardent of us. I was three computer clicks, one disorganized pile, and 16 iPads away from leaving my room.
Once I locked the door behind me, I had this sudden revelation come over me: there are only a few days left until the end of the school year.
This is how the end of the school year goes for NYC teachers. It starts around late May when teachers across the country across the country wave their fingers and stick their tongues out at us for starting their vacations earlier than us. We finally get to take a few deep breaths to see what the students’ first marking period grades looked like and what their last may look like. But not before you’re pleading and begging them to turn in work they swear they have for you somewhere. The portfolios we’ve organized and the phone logs we kept suddenly look like security blankets in front of the handful of parents and administrators who might have questioned whether we weren’t keeping tabs on our students’ progress for whatever reason.
The sun rays pierce our windows harder. The coffee tastes like it has one extra cup of sugar. The lesson plans start Meet Me Inside, Meet Me Inside | The Jose Vilson: