This summer has been so great that I don't want it to end. (I also realize my body needs the rest work provides.) Four trips, three of them major ones, walking the length of Manhattan multiple times, museums and parks, I just want to do it all. Retirement seemed like a great idea.
And then...I met with my college class tonight and all thoughts of leaving the profession evaporated from my brain.
I love being in front of a classroom and having all eyes watching me, all ears listening to what I say. Okay, in my remedial, I might only get one eye and ear per student if I am lucky, but I am still on stage. I can't give it up, not yet anyway.
I didn't get to do all I planned this summer. I only walked across the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges. I still need to cross the Williamsburg and Queensborough on foot, I need another visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (planned for tomorrow), I need to visit the new JC Penny on 34th St and I need to do countless other things I won't even know about until I open this week's TimeOut New York.
All these activities will have to wait. Taking me out of the classroom would be the equivalent of cutting the wings off of a bird. I know I am being selfish. My husband would like me to retire. The young teachers needing a job want me to retire. I'm probably not even doing as good a job teaching as I used to so the admins and the kids could probably use some young blood too. That is just too bad.
So, back to the college I went last night and back to the high school I go next week. A few words of warning for anyone who gets in my way:
And then...I met with my college class tonight and all thoughts of leaving the profession evaporated from my brain.
I love being in front of a classroom and having all eyes watching me, all ears listening to what I say. Okay, in my remedial, I might only get one eye and ear per student if I am lucky, but I am still on stage. I can't give it up, not yet anyway.
I didn't get to do all I planned this summer. I only walked across the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges. I still need to cross the Williamsburg and Queensborough on foot, I need another visit to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (planned for tomorrow), I need to visit the new JC Penny on 34th St and I need to do countless other things I won't even know about until I open this week's TimeOut New York.
All these activities will have to wait. Taking me out of the classroom would be the equivalent of cutting the wings off of a bird. I know I am being selfish. My husband would like me to retire. The young teachers needing a job want me to retire. I'm probably not even doing as good a job teaching as I used to so the admins and the kids could probably use some young blood too. That is just too bad.
So, back to the college I went last night and back to the high school I go next week. A few words of warning for anyone who gets in my way:
Get ready, I am not going away!
