Today was the beginning of the end...my last "official" class of my Monday afternoon 6th grade CCD class. Next week, a party, hand out report cards, play a Jeopardy game of my own devising based on the curriculum, and then it is over! On this Wednesday, the last "official" class of my Wednesday afternoon 6th grade class...with a repeat of party next Wednesday.
As we move away from Easter and into softball/baseball/spring sport season, the kids become more anxious to leave class and hurry away. Even this measley hour spent with me seems to be too much for them. The overwhelming majority of both classes do not go to Mass, so this is the only moment for them to touch the Divine! As I did my review quiz with them today, I can see that the students did NOT absorb all that I struggled to give them. We still cannot get that there are Liturgical Seasons, and that Christmas is NOT preceded by Fall, but by Advent. And that the colors for Easter are NOT purple and yellow, but Gold and White. Let's not even discuss the Sacraments, which took over 2 months of my life with them...
The rewarding part of this job is when that one student asks me if I will be teaching 7th grade next year and can they get into my class? I keep telling myself that if I only reach ONE per year, if I just get ONE to pray a bit more, to go to Mass one more time, to think morally just once more, then I have done a good job. Not great, but good. Maybe some of them have had that "Oh ho!" moment, when something becomes clear for the first time. Maybe one of them will turn to prayer when life sucks. Or maybe I am just kidding myself...at this time of the year, I am disheartened and tired. The summer vacation seems to refresh me, and I will be back in September full of the Holy Spirit and new ideas. But in the meantime, there is registration in mid-May, teachers' meetings in June, the new book committee in late July and then book sales in August!!
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