I have been changed for good.

The Fifth Grade Traveling Show was yesterday. I love that show. It has been a high point of the year for me since I started working at Mt. Mahogany. It is amazing what those kids are able to do. And it always humbles me how much work the fifth grade teachers put into that show. They couldn’t do it without all the parents who volunteer though. It really is a great production. Other than the year they had me be a dancing hot dog, my role in the show has simply been to make a few DVDs that are shown during the show. I started with digital photos of the different classes put together, but the last few years I’ve used the digital camcorder and filmed various things throughout the year and made a year in review type movie for it. In the past, I have also been the one running the computer and the projector that the DVDs are played on.

This year we added a second computer and projector that had a power point of pictures of the various singers and narrators that was projected up on the wall so that people in the back of the room could see what the kids looked like. And this year, a student ran both projectors and both computers. He did a great job too. I was real impressed with him. It felt good to not be needed for that.

The Traveling Show is one of my favorite things of the year. And watching it this year I again wondered how I will ever be able to leave it all. How will I be able to leave my students? The fifth graders this year were my first graders when I started. I’ve watched them grow and I couldn’t be prouder of them. How will I be able to leave the teachers I work with? They’ve watched me grow and I think of them all as my friends. Things change and I know it won’t be possible for me to stay there forever.

The last dance of the program this year was a ballet to the song “For Good” from the musical Wicked. I have issues with that musical, but I felt the song was very appropriate for me right now. Because I knew you: I have been changed for good. Because I’ve been at this school, I have been changed for good.