Saying Goodbye and Thank-you to my students

I recently accepted a new position as an academic consultant at the Ingham ISD.  I have spent the last couple of days cleaning out my classroom.  For those who do not know, I spent the last 9 years teaching math and social studies at Charlotte High School.

My favorite class to teach was always AP Government.  I developed this course as a second year teacher and have continued to teach it ever since.  Ever since my undergraduate days, it was my dream to teach AP government since I loved this subject so much.  However, looking back over my 8 years of AP government, it was the students who truly made this class what it was.  I was taking down senior pictures from my "wall of fame" and each face was a story.  The girls who "googled me" during my second year of teaching and came in knowing my parents and all of my extra-curricular activities in high school.  The group that bought me my beloved Constitution scarf.  The group that let me pilot the flipped classroom.  The ones that taught me how to play 2048 after the AP test.  I could go on and on.   The ones who gave me the nick-name T-Becks.  The kids I took across the country to Harvard Model Congress.  Those that I coached in volleyball.

I was especially fortunate to have many students for more than one class since I often taught freshmen algebra and junior AP Government.  The relationships I built with these students have lasted long after the class thanks to social media.  It was these relationships that made my time in the classroom so rewarding and now, so hard to leave.  I only wish I had stumbled upon the flipped classroom earlier in my career as it made building relationships so much easier.

So, to my students (every last one of you), THANK YOU!  You will never know how much you impacted me as a person and as a teacher.  Your insights, humor, and passion are inspiring.   You are the ones who kept me in the classroom for 9 years and are the ones that I will continue to think about as I work with other teachers.  Please keep in touch as you go out and change the world!