Moving
It is always so hard when a student moves away and it is especially difficult when it happens with very little notice prior to them leaving.
Yesterday, this was the case. I found out in the morning that one of my students would not be returning the next day. Immediately I try to think of ways to make this last day a special and memorable one for him.
After lunch in the classroom accompanied by a few chosen, closest friends, and just some time one-on-one reminiscing about happy and humorous times from years past, loose ends seemed a bit more settled...for the student moving, the friends involved, and for me.
As the year presses on, I know that there will be more instances of students moving away without much prior notice. Just like having unexpected sub day plans in place, I think that I am going to try to also have unexpected student moving away plans in place as well so that everyone involved in the transition feels a more complete sense of closure.
Some great ideas to prepare for when a student moves can be found in the links below.
Those are great ideas that you shared! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks for these resources. We Are Teachers is great, isn't it? I loved the idea of making a guide to the new town where they are moving. It honors where they are headed, rather than just where they are leaving. Some combo of both seems to be a good way to go. It's never easy, but we can make it better and remind them how much we care. It helps when you have warning and it sounds like you sometimes don't. Your plan to keep some things "at the ready" for these situations is a good solution. Your students are very lucky.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much!
ReplyDelete