The end of the school year brings celebrations for the graduate, yet an uneasy transition into the working world for those leaving school. Even those whose graduation is still far off worry about the job market and what their future holds. Students are always happy that another year has been completed but wonder how close that brings them to future goals.
For teachers, who repeat these endings each year, the sense of an ending’s significance is only partly vicarious. Each class is different, and as it moves to the next stage, teachers share their students’ anxiety about the future and hope they are prepared for that next stage — whatever it is. But we also have a sense of a year’s close, and what it means in our own careers and lives.
The most thoughtful teachers assess whether it’s been a productive year, or one so frustrating we are glad it’s over. We mentally revise our curriculum so that some lessons will be more successful next time. We may realize our own fatigue or factors outside our control (like prolonged snow “vacations”) resulted in less-than-optimum conditions for learning. Sometimes, we simply wish for a “do over.”
All my writing classes finish the semester with a paper on endings. It is a fitting assignment, and one I will never change because the results are always successful. Originally, I thought students would focus their papers on the death of a grandparent or pet, because I assumed most had not lost an immediate family member or close friend. That turned out not to be the case.
A surprising number of young people have lost friends in car accidents or to suicide — grim reminders that death does not always reserve itself for the elderly. But the biggest surprise in recent years has been the number of wide-ranging topics unrelated to death. Students also write about the ends of their cars and running shoes, or a last dance recital.
As I have leafed through these last papers, I’ve read about those and other endings. For Laura, the end of an unwanted friendship became a reason to rejoice, and for Brian, the rediscovery of his Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles led to the recognition that he couldn’t bring himself to throw them away. “I’m not ready to let go. I still don’t feel ready to close the children’s chapter of my autobiography.”
Ryan wrote about the end of his sheltered childhood when, as a Marine, he shipped off to Afghanistan in September 2001, and in 2003 deployed to Iraq where “bullets cracked overhead” and there were no hot meals. Upon his return, “My mother said I looked like a walking skeleton. My eyes were sunk back in my head. … Within my frail shell, that little boy who had been sheltered his whole life was nowhere to be found.”
Endings are all around us, and how we deal with them challenges our ability to see the big picture and maintain a healthy perspective. The ability to learn from them helps keep endings from becoming crushing finalities. For my students, this assignment is an opportunity to learn that endings can lead to self-knowledge, and perhaps new beginnings.
What Kids Are Reading
This weekly column will look at lists of books kids are reading in various categories, including grade level, book genre and data from booksellers. Information on the books below came from Amazon.com’s list of children’s best-sellers and are listed in order of popularity.
Children’s Books on Endings and Death
1. Happy Endings by Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm (Audio CD, Ages 9-12)
2. As the Waltz Was Ending by Emma Macalik Butterworth (Young Adult)
3. The Lost Happy Endings by Carol Ann Duffy (Ages 4-8)
4. I Miss You: A First Look at Death by Pat Thomas and Leslie Harker (Ages 4-8)
5. What Is Death by Etan Boritzer (Ages 4-8)
6. When Dinosaurs Die: A Guide to Understanding Death by Laurie Krasny Brown and Marc Brown (Ages 4-8)
7. Water Bugs and Butterflies: Explaining Death to Young Children by Doris Stickney and Robyn Henderson Nordstrom (Ages 4-8)
8. Tear Soup by Pat Schwiebert, Chuck DeKlyen and Taylor Bills (Ages 9-12)
Erica Jacobs, whose column appears Wednesday, teaches at George Mason University. E-mail her at [email protected].
