School began yesterday for teachers.
I wasn’t there. I’m one to a new chapter in life.
I will miss the interactions with students, the day-to-day sense of community, watching the growth in thinking and writing, the A HA! moments when the light comes on in a young mind, discussing literature, critiquing videos, learning from the students, supporting our charges in their sports and activities.
I will miss the interactions with my colleagues, the common drive to get the best out of our students, the affirmation when a job is well done, the exchange of ideas, listening to success stories, discussing world events, bonding through the day-to-day grind.
I will miss closing the classroom door and digging into the real business of education–teacher and students interacting, heading for a goal.
There are very few nobler professions.
The view was spectacular from that window.
Why give it up? What I won’t miss was beginning to outweigh the positives. A monumental shift. You don’t see me missing administration, standardized testing, SMART goals, in-service days, meetings, meetings, meetings, yada, yada, yada.
Thoreau stated that we live several lifetimes. Mine have included my schooling years, my clueless years, my coaching years, my childless married years, my young parent years, my crisis parenting years, my empty nest years, my caregiver years, and now….
I am not big on the unknown. I function better on a schedule, a sureness of purpose.
Of these I am sure: I can sleep later, I don’t have papers to grade, and I’ll have more time to write! And there are still the hundreds of former students and baseball players who have kept in touch: the teachers, the firemen, the police officers, the authors, the doctors, the nurses, the executives, the business owners, the graduate students, the soldiers, the scientists, the mothers, the fathers, the journalists, all the good people I have met.
Now I step to another window and pause and look.
The Q-View 