Someone Like Us

I think the last day of school makes me contemplative. Today I am preparing to say goodbye to 17 amazing young people, not knowing if I will ever see them again. I wonder what impact I actually had and if I gave them anything that will actually help them through life. I actually woke up singing a song from the Broadway musical, Jekyll and Hyde called “Someone Like You.” While at first the song may seem to be focused on a desire for romantic love, certain lyrics actually reminded me of my students and what they seem to be seeking.

When I think of my current students, and also past students, I see some of the lyrics from the song so clearly. There is a part that goes, “Wanting to fly, but scared to try, But if someone like you…” and I see my students' faces. They want so badly to spread their wings, but often let fear of failure hold them back. That is where we come in. As teachers we get to be the “wind beneath their wings” (another great song) and be the someone that helps them overcome their fear of failure and learn to soar. That is such an amazing opportunity! I feel so honored to be that “someone” in their life, even if it is only for the course of a school year.

There is also a part in the song that talks about needing someone to “help me see a world I've never seen before… so I can soar.” Isn’t that what we want? We want to help our students see past their own life experience and see the world around them. While personal life experience helps shape us, there is so much of the world past, present, and hopefully future that our students need to see and understand to truly soar. I hope that when my students look back and think about what I taught them, that they will feel that I opened up the world before them to see and experience.

As I get emotional this morning, thinking about saying goodbye to the 17 amazing young people that I was blessed enough to teach this year, I hope they know that I will still help them soar if I can. I hope they think back on Mrs. Giddis and know they can still ask for help or advice if they need it. I feel so blessed to have been part of their journeys. This is why teaching means so much to me, and even though it makes the last day of school so difficult, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. So, I am going to go say goodbye to this year’s “kids” and encourage them to soar. Hopefully we can all be the “someone like you” that our students need.

Reference:

Wildhorn, Frank (1990) Someone Like You, © BMG Rights Management US, LLC, Shapiro Bernstein & Co. Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group