Still crying over the year 11s leaving - I'm not normal am I?

[SplashArt]

It was my 1st 'official' year as an English teacher in a secondary school in 2012. This year it was the first year of a group of students that I have seen from 11-16 and I can't believe how emotional I am. Although last year was hard I suppose it all felt very different.

I remember how sweet (the majority!) they were when they came into my class and we spoke about it both being our first times at the school... Of course some I never taught again and some moved away, but there has been a handful that I have consistently taught all 5 years, due to how the sets work.

I don't know, I'm still upset over it, I have a leavers book (their one) and they all signed it and I honestly can't stop getting upset when I read all the messages.

Am I normal? I feel rather ridiculous... Teaching isn't for me, is it?

You are completely normal & if you didn't care you would be a rubbish teacher.
It's the end of an era in a way as you've been with these kids for all of their high school life.
You've seen them grow from shy gawky 11 year olds to pain in the neck 13/14 year olds to lovely delightful (I hope) 16 year olds.
I'm not a teacher myself but have many teacher friends & they all felt/feel the same.

Thank you so much :)

It's a pleasure x