Just a day and a half of school left in the year. I have rendered a resignation letter to the school board, and the reality is beginning to set in as I pack up drawers and boxes from 10 years of full time, 4 years of half time, and a total of 28 years coaching and teaching at Baker Middle School. Wow. I think when I turn in my keys for the first time in years and years, it will all sink in. This is it.
Middle schoolers have been a challenge and a delight over the years. So much is happening in their lives and bodies, family becomes background to peers, and emotions generally are always on the shirtsleeve. Life has NEVER been dull around middle schoolers! Yet I have found in the past few years that my patience for some of the middle school "games" has wanned, and in fairness to the students, it is time to pursue other ventures. I do plan to sub abit, will teach PE at Blue Mt. Community College (believe it or not - that was my first calling), and pursue my artistic endeavors on a personal level. Eventually my husband and I plan to travel and volunteer with Habitat for Humanity and other church related organizations. I have a dream to take my clown outfit to entertain children in hospitals, teach summer art programs, and try to market a series of "Sermon Scribbles" that I have done over the past year, based on Sunday Sermons, devotions, and personal reading. I am not planning on sitting around eating bon bons!
The best part of any teaching experience is the impact you have on individual students and the relationships that grow throughout the years. It is always a delight to watch former students and athletes take their place in our community life in a positive and supportive way - to watch a new generation of Bakerites being raised....and sometimes to find them in your class! (That's when you know you've been around awhile!) I remember many principals, the old Viking mascot, 36 girls on a volleyball team, long term sub jobs, a half time job in the guidance office, and more road trips in a bus that I care to remember! (Burns doesn't get any closer over the years!)
Thank you, parents, for sharing your children. Thank you, students, for putting up with my slips of tongue and mis-quotations, my warped sense of humor, and organized chaos. Thanks for sharing your lives with me and letting me share a bit of mine with you. Hopefully we've grown together in the process.
Middle schoolers have been a challenge and a delight over the years. So much is happening in their lives and bodies, family becomes background to peers, and emotions generally are always on the shirtsleeve. Life has NEVER been dull around middle schoolers! Yet I have found in the past few years that my patience for some of the middle school "games" has wanned, and in fairness to the students, it is time to pursue other ventures. I do plan to sub abit, will teach PE at Blue Mt. Community College (believe it or not - that was my first calling), and pursue my artistic endeavors on a personal level. Eventually my husband and I plan to travel and volunteer with Habitat for Humanity and other church related organizations. I have a dream to take my clown outfit to entertain children in hospitals, teach summer art programs, and try to market a series of "Sermon Scribbles" that I have done over the past year, based on Sunday Sermons, devotions, and personal reading. I am not planning on sitting around eating bon bons!
The best part of any teaching experience is the impact you have on individual students and the relationships that grow throughout the years. It is always a delight to watch former students and athletes take their place in our community life in a positive and supportive way - to watch a new generation of Bakerites being raised....and sometimes to find them in your class! (That's when you know you've been around awhile!) I remember many principals, the old Viking mascot, 36 girls on a volleyball team, long term sub jobs, a half time job in the guidance office, and more road trips in a bus that I care to remember! (Burns doesn't get any closer over the years!)
Thank you, parents, for sharing your children. Thank you, students, for putting up with my slips of tongue and mis-quotations, my warped sense of humor, and organized chaos. Thanks for sharing your lives with me and letting me share a bit of mine with you. Hopefully we've grown together in the process.