by Eric Benzel

Isn’t this picture wonderful?! My dad took this photo of a bunch of teenagers playing in the fire hydrants this week while they were out here to visit: classic NYC. Students had their last day of school last friday, and there have been kids playing everywhere! Last friday was also graduation across most of the city: the subways were full of students in their dress clothes and graduation gowns holding flowers. Proud parents surrounded their beaming graduates! It was pretty exciting.

This all has got me thinking about being a teacher! Graduation seems like it means something very different for teachers. What will I feel when my first students walk across the stage and receive their diplomas? Pride of course. Maybe sadness, excitement, fear, or loss? Students that I will have known for a semester or four years will be leaving the safe space we try to create in schools to enter the real world. How will I feel as a teacher?

That is, if I get to be a teacher here in the city next year. If you haven’t caught the news, NYC is on a hiring freeze, and the mayor and governor have proposed budget cuts to prevent laying off thousands of additional new teachers. Nonetheless, last year, NYDOE recieved 23,000 applications for new teachers and hired just ten percent of applicants! The real world is quickly approaching! Its going to be application time before we know it… is it too soon to be thinking about the first graduation?