‘I hope the students know they were loved.’

English teacher says goodbye to BVMS

 

Tracy South is going to miss her eighth-graders, especially the way they talk.

You might say TBH, she’s Hundo P sure she’ll have FOMO once she retires from the classroom.

(For those less familiar with middle school slang, that translates as “to be honest, she’s 100 percent sure she’ll have fear of missing out once she retires”). 

This is South’s 15th and final year as an English teacher at Brandon Valley Middle School. 

“I’ll miss seeing the kids, being with them. I won’t be up-to-date on the slang and dance moves,” she jokes.

South, who majored in media communications, was working as an EA in early childhood when she decided to go back to school for her education degree. 

She was initially going to specialize in elementary ed, but one day it hit her: “My dream job would be middle school English.”

“Virtually, the next day, a retirement showed up in the paper,” South said. 

The rest was history, and only the times have continued to change over the years. For instance, this year was BVMS’s first with a laptop for every student. 

“I remember when we had practically no computers, and then we only had a couple in each class, and then we went to the carts,” South said.

Language has changed, too. As she’s taught grammar, literature, reading and composition to her students, they’ve taught her new words like “yeet” (an expression of excitement) and “cringey” (cringe-worthy).

Other expressions are fading. On the wall of her classroom, South has a poster with a picture of a person with a foot in his mouth with a heading about how being quiet keeps one’s foot out of one’s mouth.

“Certain idioms they don’t know,” she said. “They thought it was literal.”

She’ll miss those moments, but she’ll mostly miss the ones in which her students do get it – “the passion they have when they get excited about something, the light bulb moments,” she explained.

She may delve into art in her retirement, but she has no firm plans. 

 “I’m not sure what’s next. I’m leaving my options open, seeing where God leads me and trusting where that’ll be,” South said. “I hope the students know they were loved.”