The classroom is calling.

I'm trying really hard right now to take off my rose-tinted glasses, but I can't help but miss having my own classroom. Big time. I was talking to a former student earlier today, a junior in high school now, and thought about how many other former students I've probably missed this school year. I'm also not creating any of those relationships with kids this year - the kind where they actually come back to their old elementary school to visit you! What has really put me over the edge, though, is the email I just received from said student at 11:45pm on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, apologizing for complaining and getting upset with me 5 years ago over getting a B+ instead of an A-. Dang. What a fantastic young woman - and she's now getting ready to attend a global policy summer opportunity with students from 35 other countries in NC, IL, and DC. I'd say that B+ from back in sixth grade didn't really keep her from achieving what she set out to do. In fact, she mentioned that she's now learned to focus much more on the memories, experiences, and personal feelings of accomplishment in school rather than the grades. It's simple acts like this that keep teachers going, I believe. In what other profession do you get to make that kind of an impact on another individual?