I don't know if any of you will read ever this page, but I wanted to express my thoughts to you anyways. On Monday, I resigned from the teaching position that I had held for six years. It was NOT an easy decision, and furthermore, it was not one I was expecting to make this summer. I had a part-time job nearly fall into my lap on July 3rd that would allow me to stay home with my son but still teach French to high school students, just online instead of in the traditional classroom. Some people can easily balance working full-time and family life, but I realized I am not one of those people. Teaching French 1-5 was a lot of work not only during the school hours, but also after school and on weekends, and I put my all into it for six years. Hopefully you enjoyed some of the lessons :-) After lots of prayer and after getting lots of wisdom from friends and family who have already traveled this path, we decided it will be best for our family for me to take some time off from teaching full time to focus on being a wife and mom. I know some of you are sad (and others may be rejoicing!), but fifteen years from now, you might understand exactly where I am coming from.
My dear former students, THANK YOU:
- for choosing to take French, even though most of your friends were taking Spanish
- for the laughter you brought to my day
- for the fun times with French Club (crêpe parties, Bon Vie, La Chatelaine)
- for the hysterical movie projects you made, never ceasing to amaze me with your technology skills!
- to the 32 of you I got to take to France in 2010 or 2013... I loved seeing you experience Europe for the first time. I hope you have caught the travel bug!
- to those of you who stuck through with 4 years of French class and furthermore 4 years with me!
- for always being excited at the beginning of a new school year
- for telling me what the latest youtube videos were that I needed to watch
- for "keeping me on my toes"... for example, I had to constantly update my list of words in both English & French that could not be said in a high school classroom...
- for putting up for all of the times I connected lessons to Harry Potter
- for putting up with my stories about living in France... and my rants about food and nutrition.
- (class of 2010ish) for the pranks & shenanigans you would pull in my classroom.
- for keeping me up to date on slang ("gram it", "YOLO," "#tbt" etc..). Just know that I am officially to old to actually say that stuff seriously, but thanks to you, I can feel cool knowing what it means :-)
- for laughing hysterically as you said words (you know which ones) that make me shudder... and my first year there, I believe some of you put them on a cake for me...
- for being brave during the lock-downs that were for real and tornado drills that weren't drills
- for encouraging me that I could pull off red pants and Toms even though I'm nearly 30
- for asking about my son, even if it was to just get me off topic
- for all of the cookies and cupcakes and cake pops and brownies
- for all of the times you were honest about using online translators
- to those of you that made an effort to be nice to everyone in your class. You are awesome.
- for the notes, cards, senior pictures, etc... these will be going in my "why I teach" folder, which I will be keeping forever.
- for teaching me that I only need to worry a little about when my son becomes a teenager... because after all, you guys are pretty awesome!
- for taking the time to read this post!
- in advance, for being great for your new teacher!
My last bits of advice to you:
- Pick your friends wisely. You will become like the people with whom you surround yourself.
- Study abroad in college. Those four years are academically challenging, but there will never be another time in your life in which it will be easier to just pack up your life and move it overseas.
- Don't date anyone you couldn't see yourself marrying. I made that decision in college and it was one of the best choices I made.
- MAKE GOOD DECISIONS! I told you this every Friday, and you usually laughed. But remember, every decision has a consequence... some positive, some negative... I only told you this to try to get you to think about the choices you are making. Decisions you make in high school CAN affect your future.
... And lastly, please STAY IN TOUCH!! I will honestly miss you all so very much and I care about you deeply. I will be thinking about you next year. Friend me on facebook, follow me on Instagram... or once you start college and learn email actually does have a purpose other than allowing you to have accounts on social media, email me!
All my love,
Madame
