Oh, but I love them

Eighteen grade seven students. Thirteen girls, and five boys. They drive me crazy. They argue, they chatter, they ignore me, they push me. They also make me laugh. Alot! They pout one minute and smirk at me the next. I can be honest with them about funny stuff and serious stuff. Their work is beautiful. Their striving to understand the math of rates is inspiring. Their poetry and prose often leaves me breathless. They are alot of work. Alot of work. And in a year, it will be over. They will move onto highschool, and I will move on to another phase in my life. I have known some of them for seven years. Some for only one, but I love them all fiercely. Yes, all of them. Even the ones that drive me nuts sometimes.

I struggle with their parents at times. I wish the cards they were dealt were different. I worry about them as I project their behaviours into the future. I hope to be part of their grown-up lives in one way or another. Who knows?

They are a beautiful class. No, really, they are. They have made me a better teacher, a better person. But, it is, at times, exhausting. Bone weary exhausting.
Still, today was a good day. And maybe, just maybe, the decision to take them all camping in a week and a half wasn't folly afterall.