Back to School, Back to You is the theme for September
for the Gems! Back to school can mean different things for everyone. Being a
30+ year teacher, it usually meant spending weeks and weeks cleaning, organizing,
and decorating your classroom with colorful pictures and words. Labeling
everything in the classroom with your students’ names on them. Planning lessons that would engage every
student. But now I’m retired from teaching, it takes on a new meaning.
Teaching was something I’d always wanted to do, so I thought
I’d share some of the best and worst things about this career.
BEST
The kids - There’s nothing like a little child who
looks up to you and wants to do everything they can to please you. Who wants to
be just like you. I had a little girl in my class who wanted to get her ears pierced
so she could wear small hoop earrings just like I did every day. Much later in
my career, I had the daughter of one of my first year students. The mom (who I’d
had many years ago) sent in such a beautiful letter to me, telling me how
important her first year was at school (I taught Kindergarten at the time) and because
of that experience, she also went into teaching so she could inspire young
minds like I had. I cried. Yup, those are the moments we live for as teachers.
Sharing knowledge - Some days, as I leaned against a
table chatting with the kids about our daily lesson, I would feel this sense of
pride and rightness. Like this was what I was supposed to be doing. I loved
when I had a student suddenly gasp, “Oh!” and their eyes lit up with
understanding. Or when a child who struggled, got an A on a test. These were
the precious moments when I knew I had made a difference in a child’s life. Or
when parents would marvel at what their child had learned in school,
specifically the non-curriculum stuff. That crust was the best part of the
bread. That sleep is the best medicine. That making mistakes is okay. I
stressed this one a lot. One day I was giving a spelling test on long O
homophones. I’d say the word, give it in a sentence, then say the word again. I
guess I hadn’t been paying attention because I said, “Whole. I ate the whole
pizza. W-H-O-L-E. whole.” As soon as I realized what I’d done, I burst out
laughing. The kids joined in and we all lost focus for a few moments. But it
taught them that even teachers make mistakes. And we can laugh at these
mistakes.
Changing lives - Every year I’d get lots of students
who struggled in some area: academics, social skills, emotional skills,
behavior. But every so often I knew I’d had
a huge effect on a child’s life. Like the boy who no one wanted to play with
because of his behavior. So smart but didn’t know how to interact nicely with
others. I put him and another bright child in charge of helping other students
with their work. It was a new role he took very seriously. By the end of the
year, he was loved by everyone. Or the time
I had a parent-teacher conference and told this child’s mom how great this
student was and how well-behaved. The mom’s eyes opened wide and her mouth dropped.
“You mean, my Nicky?” She thought I’d gotten her son confused with
someone else, then went on to explain that he had gotten kicked out of
pre-school for his behavior. But I’d seen the good in him and quickly squelched
the negative behavior, and had him become my helper. He had an amazing year.
As much as I loved my years teaching, there are also
many downfalls which made me retire a good ten years earlier than typical.
WORST
Uncomfortable conditions - Not being able to use the
bathroom when you need to. Old and run down buildings. Outdated books and
supplies.
Helicopter and Lawnmower parents who expected
everything done FOR their child. Ones who never communicated yet expected you
to know exactly what they wanted from you.
Administration who hadn’t worked in a classroom in
many years (if ever - as some had been teachers of Gym, Music, Art, … and hadn’t
taught in a regular classroom) who didn’t support you. Superintendents who didn’t
care about the teachers (a school’s biggest asset) or the students, as long as
the budget balanced and the test scores were high.
Meetings, meetings, meetings, that took time from our
classroom, or from the time we’d be planning wonderful lessons for our
students. Most of these meetings could have been handled through email.
Tests, tests, and more tests, so many that added to
the stress level of both teacher and students. And it got to the point we had
to teach to these tests and not to what the children really needed to learn.
Disrespect from so many in the community. People who
think teachers only babysit. Earn too much money (I have a Master’s Degree with
over 30 years experience and was making the same as my newly graduated
son-in-law). Only work half a day and half a year. There were many days I was
in my classroom until 8pm. Then I’d bring work home to do. While my own
children had to deal on their own.
People who have no training in education telling us
what to teach and how to teach it. Plus how to run our classroom. So called “experts”
giving us curriculum that is pushed down so much the students are not
developmentally ready to handle it. So they cry and have major anxiety.
I wouldn’t have changed my years with my students, but
am happy I now get to spend my days writing stories of people falling in love.
My newest book, ELUSIVE DREAMS, the first in my Storms of New England series, shows us that school wasn’t a great place for Tessa. Here’s a little snippet when Tessa and Erik bring their son, Matty, to his preschool Open House.
My newest book, ELUSIVE DREAMS, the first in my Storms of New England series, shows us that school wasn’t a great place for Tessa. Here’s a little snippet when Tessa and Erik bring their son, Matty, to his preschool Open House.
~~
Tessa eyed the crowd and saw a
familiar redhead. Paula Redmond. They’d gone to high school together. She hadn’t
been one of the super mean girls, but she’d certainly never stuck up for Tessa
as she was bullied and called names behind her back. No one had.
“Tess? You okay?”
Hiding behind Erik seemed a good
idea, or better yet, running from the room and going to their nice, safe house.
The music from Matty’s room reminded her the small boy was in there being brave
without his parents. Shouldn’t she be brave too? For Pete’s sake, she was an
adult. She couldn’t go around the rest of her life hiding. Dr. Sullivan had
urged her to get out more only yesterday at their second counseling appointment.
If Matty could do this, then so could she.
“I’m fine, Erik. I’m going to let
Kiki play on the little slide.”
He walked off and she set the toddler
at the top of the small plastic slide then let go. It was a short ride, but the
child loved it and toddled back to the two steps to get to the top. She climbed
them herself, then slid down again.
“Tessa?”
Paula stood behind her. Maybe she
was still a coward, but she’d hoped the girl wouldn’t recognize her. Or if she
did, she would simply ignore her like she had in high school. No such luck.
“Paula. Hi.” What else could she
say? It’s nice to see you again? No,
because it wasn’t. She had lots of faults, but she wasn’t a liar.
~~
Check out the first few chapters of ELUSIVE DREAMS for free on many retailers.
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Happy reading and may this month let you get back to you: your routine, your time for you and more...
