My Classroom

You should probably know I'm sitting here in my classroom and the tears are coming fast. I'm not at the ugly cry stage (yet), just the waterfall stage. The emotions are so strong that I'm tempted to eat the entire batch of brownies with peanut butter frosting instead of sharing them with my English faculty at our lunch party. So to keep myself from gorging on chocolate and peanut butter, I will do what works best for me as I process emotion: write.

I'm done with grading the final exams. The essays sit neatly stacked in my locked cupboard. I've entered grades and comments in powerschool. And so, for all intensive purposes, my job as a JIS English teacher is complete.

Last night, as the kids and I waited for the Visual and Performing Arts year-end program, we gathered in my room to eat pizza, watch a little "White Collar" on the big screen, and begin packing up my room. How I have loved my classroom. A haven for me. A gathering spot for my own children.

Here's what I have loved about my JIS classroom:

The view from my window is one of my favorite sites in all of Jakarta: the giant tree whose branches dwarf the library and English building and shade the Freshman huts, the faded-blue sky barely visible past through the green, and the sun warming the leaves with its golden light.

My Comfy Corner - after VERY productive class lessons, I would invite my students to get comfy on the couch and giant pillows, and we would simply talk. Sometimes I shared stories (they really liked any story involving love or embarrassment).

This was also a great place for after-school relaxing. How I have loved having Truman and Amelia walk up to the High School, buy Milo and a quiche at the Wantalan Cafeteria, and start their homework in my Comfy Corner. I will miss these moments. I will miss looking over at Amelia reading her book, or seeing Madi's cello propped in the corner, or even the pile of swim bags.  

My Wall of Dreams - This is where my seniors "left their mark" on my wall. I encouraged them to write down their dreams and their aspirations. 

Some of my favorite legacy quotes accompany their handprints: 

"Everyone must leave something behind when he dies, my grandfather said. A child or a book or a painting or a house or a wall built or a pair of shoes made. Or a garden planted. Something your hand touched some way so your soul has somewhere to go when you die, and when people look at that tree or that flower you planted, you're there." 

Ray Bradbury

and 

"You see things and you say 'Why?' But I dream things that never were and I say 'Why not?'"

George Bernard Shaw

I don't know if I will ever have my own classroom again. I will teach at NOVA this fall. And I'm already scheduled to take the Virginia teaching licence test. But how that will all work out, I just don't know. And maybe that is why this is so sad for me. To leave something I don't really care about would be soooo easy. To leave something I have loved, is very hard. This year has been a blessing for me and my children. I feel blessed to have used my talents to teach writing and literature and to be close to my own children. Almost a piece of heaven.

Truman took this photo of me at my desk (it took many tries so I wouldn't look too old and tired!) Do you see the bell? I used it to get my students' attention (worked like a charm! Thanks, Katie, for the idea) and for great games of family feud. 

This has been the place where I taught Hamlet, Romeo&Juliet, The Book Thief, The Road, To Kill a Mockingbird, and Frost's poetry. This has been the place where Elise and Madi would drop by to say hi and usually ask for some candy, cash, or a hug (or all three). 

I'm not crying anymore - the writing has worked. And I didn't even need to sneak a brownie. So I will end this post and get back to packing up my room - a place that has been a large part of my Jakarta home.