1. Pretending to be happy about leaving, but really you just can’t wait to go to the teacher’s lounge and let out a nice cry during prep. Even though it was an exhausting experience, your students definitely made it worthwhile.
2. You’ll never have a normal sleep schedule again. Falling asleep at 8:30 PM and waking up at 6 AM is a normal part of your life now. Welcome to teacher-land!
3. You’ve planned your goodbye speech to your students for days, yet it still comes out as an ineloquent mess. And pretty much every other conversation you hold for the rest of the day will be gibberish. Goodbyes are hard. Especially when you know that you probably won’t see your students ever again.
4. When you get home, you’ll replay your students leaving your classroom in your mind to the tune of Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You”. And you’ll probably start to cry again… Definitely more crying.
This continued crying will prompt you to remember every sad song that you know:
5. Exuding pride. You’ve accomplished something that you once thought was impossible, and will never forget the learning experiences that you had. You’ve effectively adjusted your practice over the course of three and half months and will be an amazing teacher! Congratulations! (It almost feels like your own personal graduation to adulthood… now to just get that degree..)