So, this morning I taught my last two classes as a full time teacher. I still have grading for a few weeks and then some other things to wrap up my programs and, due to my contract and how terminal leave works I won't officially be retired for a few more months but today was kind of my last day of actual work, work.

Some approximate stats:

• Taught approximately 290 specific course sections (probably a little more)
• Taught somewhere between 6,000 and 12,000 different students
• Created more than 12 courses from whole cloth to go with new version of a dozen or so more
• Started three major programs from scratch (StuyCS, Hunter honors CS, Hunter CS Teacher Education) along with a non-profit and it's programs (CSTUY), Google CAPE, and aided in the design of others.

And I'm sure I'm forgetting things.

Today's lesson was pretty cut and dry - managed pointers in C++ and some advice for what my first year students could do over the summer to prepare for what's next.

I was asked in class if today felt weird, exciting, sad, special or anything else given it was a "last" day.

I had to say no. It didn't but maybe that was more of a reflection of how I look at things than anything else.

Today really didn't feel much different than any last day of semester. Why? Probably because I've never been goal oriented. It's always been the journey.

I explained to the class after my student asked that just because I was retiring from Hunter and moving on to some other ventures (whatever they turn out to be) it really wasn't different from other years.

As a teacher, particularly a HS teacher of seniors, every year is an ending. Every year, you say goodbye to a crop of students that you've invested in, gotten to know, and many times, gotten attached to. Next year, you begin again with a new group, or more likely, groups overlap.

Of the graduates, some will keep in touch, some won't. For those that do stay in touch, the teacher and student continue to have a relationship - I've been amazingly fortunate in the students that have decided to stay in touch. For those that don't, both sides have memories of the shared time together.

When I left Stuy, it was the same as other years. I moved to Hunter College and still got to work with terrific young people (and later teachers). Of the Stuy kids from the year I left, some are still in my circles, some are not - just like every other year.

Now that I'm leaving Hunter, it's the same with my Hunter kids (and teachers). the only difference is that I won't have a new crop come the Fall and that's alright.

I'm looking forward to some time in the Fall when we'll try to have a big get together of my former students and I'm also looking forward to whatever I decide to do next. I'll look back, just like I always do and think about the students I've taught (and while I can't speak for other teachers, yes, I do think about my former students and how their doing a fair bit) but now, I'll also look over my career arc as a whole.

So, nothing special for today just the next step in the journey. The only difference is for the first time in a while I don't know where the journey leads.