Having a Lot to Say
Have you ever found yourself with so much to say but afraid to let it out? Like a dam that if you let the water out the whole lake would empty and perhaps flood the valley below? That is how I am feeling, not that I don't have anything to say but that I have so much to say that I might not stop.
I am retiring. I am retiring from teaching.
I made a monumental decision. Well at least it is for me. It wasn't made one day but more during the last year, when running to keep up with everyone at school was getting a little tiring. That is not the only reason to be sure. It was that teaching, planning, and grading, were not the only things involved in teaching these days. It was also parent teacher conferences, demanding parents, then excessive intrusive data monitoring, PLC meetings, data binders, extended planning forms, pressure meetings, evaluations, and performance pay. As you can see it started to get complicated. Then I looked around and most people my age had already retired. I couldn't find anyone else quite as old as me except perhaps the teacher whose head was covered with silver and had a handful of students for ISS and another one who jumped into teaching after another career.
Though the list is a mile long, none of these are the real reason I am retiring. It was just time. It was and is time to help care for my mother who I dearly love. I can retire and I can be there for her. Suffice it to say that though I have sisters who have taken care of her, I enjoy visiting with her, making her laugh, and be surprised that she often remembers me in her own way. She thinks I am her best friend. She recognizes my voice when I call her which doesn't stop amazing me, but I feel I need to be there when the flow begins to slow. So yes, it is time to go home and not have regrets. It is time to do what is right.
Need I say more?
I am retiring. I am retiring from teaching.
I made a monumental decision. Well at least it is for me. It wasn't made one day but more during the last year, when running to keep up with everyone at school was getting a little tiring. That is not the only reason to be sure. It was that teaching, planning, and grading, were not the only things involved in teaching these days. It was also parent teacher conferences, demanding parents, then excessive intrusive data monitoring, PLC meetings, data binders, extended planning forms, pressure meetings, evaluations, and performance pay. As you can see it started to get complicated. Then I looked around and most people my age had already retired. I couldn't find anyone else quite as old as me except perhaps the teacher whose head was covered with silver and had a handful of students for ISS and another one who jumped into teaching after another career.
Though the list is a mile long, none of these are the real reason I am retiring. It was just time. It was and is time to help care for my mother who I dearly love. I can retire and I can be there for her. Suffice it to say that though I have sisters who have taken care of her, I enjoy visiting with her, making her laugh, and be surprised that she often remembers me in her own way. She thinks I am her best friend. She recognizes my voice when I call her which doesn't stop amazing me, but I feel I need to be there when the flow begins to slow. So yes, it is time to go home and not have regrets. It is time to do what is right.
Need I say more?
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