May 15, 2009

Stay in the Game?

You already know that I HATE the end of the school year. While everyone else is excited for summer, all I can think of is the loss of graduating students. Of course I am overwhelmingly happy to see my students go off into the world, I just get a little too overwhelmed sometimes. This year we are not just promoting 600+ students, we are also losing about 30% of our staff due to SERP, RIF, and a new high school. In addition, it was announced this week that my favorite administrator is leaving for a position at the district office.

This is the end of my 10th year teaching the same subjects, in the same classroom, on the same campus, parking in the same space, eating lunch at the same taco stand on Tuesdays. My closest friend on campus is leaving for the new high school that opens in the fall. It’s “state of the art” in every way led by a motivated and dynamic administrative staff. Do you get a sense of how I’m feeling? Still, it’s been an amazing decade full of personal and professional growth. I have helped many students up the next rung of their ladder.

This spring, like every spring, I explored the teacher job market. I found an interesting position teaching technology in a nearby state where I would love to live. However, the good advice of friends kept me in place. So now as the 2008-2009 school year draws to a close, I am preparing for the 2009-2010 school year: meeting with next year’s advanced students, making plans for the summer, and revising the 9th edition of my multimedia curriculum. I am focusing on the positive tasks so that I do not get distracted by the impending loss of my graduating students.

Teaching is like that. Teachers pour their heart and soul into the success of their students. We work alone most of the time and cherish the few moments we get with other adults. We commit ourselves to a job that does not offer the opportunity for advancement (administration does not count), or even a merit-based paycheck. We are told what standards to teach, and when to teach them. We are told by the “professionals” that while we too are considered “professional” that “anyone” can be a school teacher, and that “everyone” knows how to educate children. Of course they do.

Teaching is a job that is full of disappointments. I know, they never tell you that in teacher school, but it is. More importantly, teaching is a job full of hope. And not just imagined, or wished for hope, but actual hope. Teachers serve their students daily. We lift our pupils up and often out of their situations, however dire. We educate children giving them hope for their lives today, and for their future tomorrows. Teachers inspire their students to learn, grow, and succeed. It is crucial that committed and confident teachers stay in the game. I plan to continue.

8 comments:

  1. For me, the toughest part of the end of the year is that nagging sense (almost a guilt) that I should have done more.

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  2. Well, glad to hear that. :)

    We're going to need you in the fourth quarter!

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  3. I to dislike the end of the year. For the 1st time since I started teaching I will not make graduation, for a very good reason, my youngest is graduating from HS. Yet I still feel awful that I won't be there to congratulate my former students.

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  4. The end of the year is a tough time for me too. I'll be really sad to see some of the seniors go. I feel like I'll never have another group of students quite like this one. Also, it seems like students are already completely out of the game, thinking about summer. Staying motivated is really difficult when it seems like a lot of students simply don't care.

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  5. Hey guys, Get on Face Book. I still stay in touch with kids I taught Thirty years ago. They don't graduate and die:)

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  6. I look forward to the end of the school year, by the end I am so burnt out, but I love teaching. I couldn't think of anything else I would want to do. I've been teaching for over 15 years and it becomes more challenging every year. I'm considering retirement, but I would still like to help my students and others in any way I can, which is what inspired me to start my own blog. I am glad to find a fellow comrade just as dedicated to their students as I. :)
    www.mama-annz.blogspot.com .... Please follow so that we may keep in touch and compare notes.

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  7. Why don't teachers get together to repel the standardized state regulations that force so many students away from their talents?

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  8. i havent quite gotten to a graduation yet, ive only just graduated from teachers college myself! but after reading this post im def going to follow this blog because i feel like it might lift me up when ive had enough of teaching (yeah i know ive only just graduated but these first years are the hardest!).

    nice writing :)

    http://wherethewindblowsher.blogspot.com/

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