On Friday afternoon a group of former students who are now in high school came roving through campus after school. One of them stayed and chatted with me. He was really polite and asked about how my classes were and was eager to tell me about how much he was enjoying geometry this year. This is a student who really struggled in my class - He took algebra for the first time as a 7th grader and it just wasn't making sense to him. We would work in tutoring sessions and he would "get it" and be doing fine, but then the next day it would be gone again. I remember setting a test down in front of him and seeing him burst into tears because he felt overwhelmed (a low point for a teacher when you know how much that child has been trying). It was really great to have him stop by and share with me that he is doing much better now, and that he really does have fond memories of my class and that I didn't totally destroy his ability at mathematics!
And on the domestic side of life, Number One Daughter now has VERY SHORT hair, and I've got six pints of very colorful canned tomatoes that are a mixture of red, yellow, orange, and green varieties.
