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2002-05-31 - 9:55 p.m. I just got home from the senior awards ceremony. It was two and a half hours long, and a lot of it was just the same people over and over, but I needed to go because I was presenting some awards. Because I don't have the honors kids, I didn't select the top English student, but I still presented that one. I also chose to do five of my own awards for my kids from senior English. The place was packed so it was very nerve-wracking for me. I absolutely hate getting up in front of huge groups of people (ironic, isn't it, that I'm a teacher--but it's totally different). Luckily I didn't stumble too badly through what I was saying. I presented three "best writer" awards (I actually could have given this to a few more people, but I wanted to just do three), one "best reader" award, and one "most improved award." The best writer and best reader both got tons of awards, but two of the best writers only got a few other awards. The one that meant the most to me was the most improved recipient. I love this girl (I love the other ones, too). I had her last year as well, and she was always struggling to get organized and do assignments. She has a learning disability for reading and writing and her spelling was atrocious (I probably spelled that wrong, how ironic would that be?) This year I have seen so much improvement--she has a high A for each six week period. She also has gotten better at reading, has been willing to read aloud in class, and her writing and spelling have gotten so much better. I have been so proud of her. Anyway, I am so glad that I gave her the award (in which I said some of what I just mentioned). That was the only award that she got, and she came up to me afterward and hugged me and thanked me. That really meant a lot to me. I really feel bad for those kids that didn't get any awards, but went to the ceremony. One of my kids was sitting behind me and you could tell his family was sad and upset he didn't get anything. They ended up leaving early. He actually should have gotten some sort of award for sports, but I think they had a sports ceremony already and these ones were more sports/all-around helping/academic awards. I felt bad about it and wished I had given him an award. I could have given him something like, "Asks the best (and the most) questions." Hmmm. I guess you always feel bad when you honor certain kids but then there are other kids who have such great qualities, too, that don't really get recognized for those kinds of things. Hopefully I can write some of those things in the cards I give them so they at least know someone does notice. I also gave a letter of recommendation to one of my students today that I love to death. I have to admit it, I write the best recommendation letters in the world. The kids are always appreciative, but his reaction was so excited and made me feel so good. He wants to be a teacher and has worked a lot with younger kids on various things (like a transitional thing for freshmen to get them comfortable in high school, as well as directing a play with younger students, etc.) Well, I've seen him interact with these kids on various occasions, sometimes because I happen to overheard. I am always struck by how well he works with them, and how positive, and caring and supportive he is. I know he will be such an excellent teacher. Anyway, I went into great depth about all of the times I have seen him in action and how wonderful he is. He read the letter in the library, and I was sitting with him and another student. He was just glowing with pride after reading it, and said how great it was and how he had no idea I had seen him doing these things with kids. He must have thanked me four times. It made me feel so happy. I mean, I know how it feels when you get one of those recommendation letters that make you sound so good (I have gotten a few). I was just so pleased I got to see his reaction. So I really got two feel good experiences today. This weekend Justin is in Portland so I have a weekend to spend by myself. I definitely like the idea of hanging out by myself and doing whatever I want and sleeping in late. Justin is a total morning person. I also have a lot of stuff to do for school now so I can work on that. But it is more fun stuff, just some extra credit journals to read and cards to write. I'll write again soon.
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