A Candle of Inspiration...
A Teacher's Farewell
by Jamey Boelhower
I sit here looking at the empty walls. Everything is white.
Everything is new for the next teacher.
I've spent three years in this classroom.
Lost my temper once. Only class to have a seating chart...my first year.
Finished grading finals this morning. Shed a tear at the "I'll miss ya!" messages left at the bottom of the last page of the test.
I was only a teacher?
It's only a room. Like any other room in any other school.
It feels now like only a room, but at one time...
There was laughter,
There were tears,
There were Jem and Scout trying to get the letter to sit on the window ledge. Using a fishing pole. (Reenactment of "To Kill a Mockingbird")
Now...only whiteness.
I'm sure when I get up and turn off the lights for the last time I'll hear the echoes...the echoes of lives I was a part of. The echo of a lecture about nouns.
As I shut the door I'll feel a part of me stay. Sitting at the desk. Looking for a paper to grade...
Goodbye...I'll miss ya.
About Jamey Boelhower...
Jamey Boelhower has been a secondary school English teacher for the past three years. He is leaving his first teaching job because his wife, an elementary school teacher, is transferring to a new position closer to her family. The Boelhowers have one son and another child due in September.
During his recent assignment, Jamey served as the head football coach, assistant boy's basketball coach, and assistant track coach. The men's track team won the state title this year.
Jamey is currently seeking a teaching position close to the family's new home.
| 
