in the little classroom in the big city we have been making wreaths from stars, telling stories, reading good books, making ornaments, laughing, getting impatient, settling back down, cutting snowflakes, singing christmas songs, drawing, cutting, pasting, learning to catch and bat balls. learning about marsupials, and how the water in the sewer gets cleaned, comparing roald dahl books, finding out that santa is real. you know. the important stuff.
You R-O-C-K in the C-A-L-I! I recently did a presentation on compost for a bunch of K-6. WOW!
When I grow up, I want to be awesome teacher just like you.
Sounds like you’re in a much more peaceful place with school. I hope your holidays are FANTABUlous.
Priceless! I can see that you would be a little melancholical now you have to say goodbye to them so soon for a while. But great adventures await. Wishing you lots of luck on the Venice e-course. If I had the time I so would join in, it seems like such fun. Am a little jealous of those that get to go along with you. Have fun and enjoy these last days with your class!
I have been thinking about you all week, figuring you must be having not regrets but perhaps …wistfulness? No regrets, though. Nada! The children are beautiful and they will miss you but you are primed for new adventure and need a break. P.S. All teachers should take a break. It should be written in a contract. When I am Queen, it will happen. Anyway, just to also let you know I’m pouring over your Istanbul and Budapest journals. After a photography/art workshop in Orvieto next fall, I want very much to visit Prague and Budapest and, maybe, Istanbul, too, and am trying to convince a friend to join me. But if she doesn’t, I’ll go alone. I will be taking notes from your journal and blog posts!
Lovely post by your sister Dottie, don’t you think?!
Who knows how and by whom we become. Seems to me love and creativity added a moment here and there in our lives outweigh almost anything, and even if not remembered, cannot be erased; such moments go on reverberating and enlivening us. Goodbye Ms. Moss’ class. and Here’s to gliding on the Venetian canals soon and very soon. Safe travels, sister, all along the way and lovely adventures to match the ones you took your kids on in the little classroom in the big city.
Absolutely, the important STUFF!!! Especially REAL baseball and snowflakes!!! You are such a dream of a teacher!!!!
HAve a wonderful time in Venice!!!
These photos, along with the others you’ve posted of your classrooms over the years, are just priceless! I’ve never seen inner city children captured so poignantly and beautifully. They would make a great book….another way to teach, you know?
What a lovely way to the end…..the way to your new beginning.
Oh this post tugs at my heart. These children shall miss you so much. This just shows how committed you are. But take this time for you. You really have earned it.
One of my colleagues brought his daughter in to the office a few days ago and I offered to show her how to make paper snowflakes. It took a few tries and a peek at Google to get suitable results but we had a lot of fun making them. You may be replaced but that doesn’t mean memories of you and/or the skills you taught those kids won’t remain in their psyches for years to come. Just knowing you have contributed to their intellectual and spiritual growth as human beings is something you should be darned proud of!
Wonderful children’s portraits Mary Ann. I thought you were home already. You will have earned every single minute of your upcoming trip. I hope you are ready, we all are. I wonder if you really took the red booties… Bwwahahahahahah
Despite being replaceable, I appreciate that you’ve continued to do what you do with obvious love in your heart for (most of) the kids, regardless of how screwed up the system and the admin is. In my book that’s the mark of a true teacher. Have a great rest of the week. I can hardly wait for our trip to begin on Saturday — I have my own “housekeeping” tasks to do before we leave. xo
I can see that choosing to leave these bright, shining lights for a long while was very difficult. With great sacrifice comes great reward.
Thank you so so much for sharing your lovely garden of minds with us.
hope you are ejoying your last few days at school with the craft monkeys….as hard as it has been, i know you are feeling some sadness at the thought of leaving….if only for a few months. merry christmas! and safe travels. looking forward to my vicarious vacation in venice….VVV
Those are such charming pictures Ms. Moss. All will be well.
I wish you were my teacher. I’m almost 47 years old, and I don’t know most of that stuff.
Those children are blessed to have you in their classroom.
And we are blessed to have you in our lives.
May this final week go well for you, Mary Ann. Very well.
And then have a BLAST in Venice.
They will never forget you. This is their best part of Christmas for many.
How lovely to see your babies again. Being missed or not, missing or not isn’t the story. The story is around the corner.
I do love to see the faces. Isn’t it curious that when we have the small space that a captured image provides, our hearts soften and momentarily the struggles fall away.
Oh you can bet they won’t forget you. I can still remember all my teachers from grade school but the really special ones stand out. Mrs. Barcomb taught me to read, Mrs. Bundy taught me compassion and self-motivation, Mrs. Cruce gave me great strategies for winning at Connect Four, Mrs. Miller read Ramona the Great and How to Eat Fried Worms(among others) to us, and Ms. Burrichter was hands down just the best teacher I ever had for too many reasons to list. You are right that a replacement will fill your spot, but hopefully they will also fill your shoes. I can’t wait for Venice!
mary anne, most are replaceable, a very small few aren’t. you are one of the small few.
can’t wait to see what you get up to during your sabbatical.
Sigh…I really have missed the stories of your craftmonkeys. Knowing you were there, making a difference in these little lives, always warmed my heart. But we all need to move on when we KNOW we need to move on… Maybe it’s just time you worked with us just-as-clueless adult craftmonkeys! <--- I speak for myself here. But thank you for this little Christmas present of their faces one more time.
REAL baseball…Grandpa would be proud:)
Replaceable or not, I’m sure you’ll have one or two passing thoughts for the little kids that have crossed your path! Two days until new adventures!! (That’s because time goes faster here in Hong Kong!!!). All packed and ready to go.
oh such adorable sugar plum fairies and tin soldiers dreaming Santa dreams, maybe a few wishing for stuff that Santa can’t bring, but still hold big wishes in their hearts. No matter what Mary Ann, even if they won’t remember; we will, that someone pretty darn special gave these kids a ‘good push’ in the right direction. We will remember all those moments both nice and naughty and we’ll also cherish all the great memories we are gonna create as we travel in your pocket to Venice…feeling happy and punch drunk that we’ll have you all to ourselves for a few weeks…makes me feel giddy with excitement…we are so close I think I can see the Grand Canal…not quite tho…must be patient just a few more days. 🙂
the good news is that i am replaceable. we all are. grade school children forget all about their old teachers within 2 weeks of being with their new teacher. those who teach children know this…and dont take it personally. ha ha ha ha
with rare exception those young little hearts do not form lasting attachments to non-familial adults. TRUE STORY.
This does tug at my heart – thinking about the kids who were lucky enough to have a teacher like you, and wondering how anyone could ever replace you in the classroom. Impossible…