The beginning of an End, and the beginning of a Beginning...

Just got home after seeing a film with a friend that I haven't seen in ages. The company was good, but the film was a bit of a shocker. It's a pity really, because the visuals on Elizabethtown's home page are fantastic, but when a website turns out to be better than the film it's supposedly advertising.... well...

I'm missing my year 12's. I only have my year 10's left now and they will be finished soon, too. In fact, next week will probably be my last week of 'real' (ie, my own classes) teaching for a while- I am taking first semester off next year. I want to be able to focus entirely on my thesis over the next six months so that I end up with something decent that I don't feel the urge to wrinkle my nose at every time I walk past it sitting on the shelf for the rest of my life. I also need some time away from school in order to patch myself up after these last couple of months. A bit of healing time, and also time to throw myself headlong into a process that is important to me, before I throw myself headlong into teaching full time. It will be good, but I'm going to miss my students and getting excited over lesson planning (piles of corrections...nah, I can live without them for a while).

Watching my year 12's graduate at the Valedictory Dinner left me with a pretty good feeling. I don't think it's a sight that will ever get old, no matter how many times I see it. And I'm only what, 7-8 years older than them or something. You'd think I was their mother! Well, they were my first year 12 class.

Here is a photo of the 'thank you' present they gave me. The little treasures. They know me too well: