The Last Week of School...

Ah, the end of another school year is finally happening. In some ways this year was REALLY long and in other ways I can hardly believe the year is actually over already. It's very crazy to think about.
What I'm really thinking about lately though is the point-less-ness of the last week of school. Because we are a residential school, all of our days are full days, until the final day which is a half day. Most high schools do 1/2 days for finals, so kids go, take 1, 2 or maybe 3 finals, then go home. Perfect, right? Well, for us, they still only want the kids to take 2 finals, but then they have to still be there the whole day. And, our finals started last Wed...so, as of today all of my kids are done with their final projects, have done their presentations, and yet we still have 2.5 days of school left. Which means that for the next 2.5 days I get to stick in a movie and play babysitter while cleaning my classroom. Kind of lame. Do we really need to have them come just to watch movies? I suppose we have to for legal reasons, but I really wish there was some way they could figure out how to get finals done and not always have 2-3 days leftover for us teachers to play babysitters. I guess at least I have helpers in cleaning out my room =)! I'll think of the positive.
The other craziness going on right now is preparation for awards day. Two years ago, another newer teacher and I, Tamara, agreed to take over the planning of awards day. We're both very organized people, and she's an English teacher so she's good at editing everything. For the last two years we've been planning, revising, and perfecting the awards day ceremony. In the end, it always turns out well, everyone is happy, and all is good. But the process at times is maddening! This year especially people just keep adding and adding things to the program...and yet they still think we can finish in 2 hours. Yikes! We will be so lucky to finish in 2 hours...I have serious doubts about the possibility. Hopefully people know not to blame Tamara and I =). Ah well, that's what we get for volunteering our services =)! Maybe, just maybe, some day I will learn how to say "NO thank you"...HA!
Well, that's all for now, I'm off to enjoy an evening of no paper-grading and no school work!