Packing up my career life of the past 6 years (15 years in my total teaching life) is harder than I thought it would be. I am lost in the details... end paperwork, posting grades, packing personal curriculum, organizing school's materials, storing supplies, storing materials and storing more supplies... teacher's have a lot of stuff!
Thanks to the smiles and cheers of my students and coworkers, leaving is emotionally easy. While I am going to miss all of my gifted and talented students (some of whom I have taught for four years), I feel so good about the hands in which I am leaving them, Mrs. Beverly.
Of course, I haven't always felt so great about Mrs. Beverly.
Due to budget cuts last school year, I left the comfort (now a luxury) of teaching at only one school and stretched myself to serve an additional 46 students at Macedonia Elementary. There, I met Mrs. Beverly with whom I was forced to team teach. I walked in with a chip on my shoulder the size of Stone Mountain. I detested the idea of teaching in the same room with another teacher. To be honest, I thought it was a complete waste of time for one teacher. I did not work well with others and had no desire for self-improvement in this area. While I was grumpy about this development at the time, I realize now how fortunate I was to have the opportunity to work with such a gifted educator and to make a wonderful new friend at the same time. Beverly, ever patient, smiled and nodded at my extemporaneous speech about how I taught: my beliefs and methods. How I was doing it my way and she could "go up an alley and holler fish" to quote Gomer Pyle. I made my point as congenially as possible, being a Southener, but Beverly got my point. Over that school year, she let me whirl about the room my way, but showed me the way to teach with precision. I learned to slow down and listen to the students and to weight my objectives equally with theirs. She was also my therapist. Each morning and afternoon, she listened to my non-stop narrative of our insane life of sports practices, dance and music lessons, church activities and band practices; the life of non-stop working to give meaning to family. She helped me see the maddness in our modern family life.
I look at that year now as my therapy year. I should pay her a counseling fee, but don't tell her that; we need the money for traveling.
This school year, I missed the luxury of having two teachers in a classroom of 27 gifted students. The budget crisis increased along with my class size. Gifted classrooms went from having a maximum class size of 17 to 25 in two years. Next year, the new maximum size is 33. Thirty-three gifted and talented children in one room with only one teacher to attempt to meet their needs and answer their unending questions is what's really insane! But it is no longer my problem. :-)
Thank you, Beverly, for your support, your encouragement and your friendship! You are lucky to work with these incredible kids and they are so lucky to work with you!
Friday, May 27, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Affirmations and Overwhelming Support
Amazing! Unbelieveable! The overwhelming support for our Field Trip Year (my new term for our family sabbatical) affirms our faith in following our dream!
When Greg and I turned in our resignations, we expected hesitant acceptance, if not an outright dour attitude toward our decision. Instead, we met excitement and encouragement (I hadn't seen them in a long time these long lost friends!) Most people we have told are thrilled with our prospects and supportive of our plans. New opportunities sprung up with each conversation. One teacher friend spoke with her mother about our sabbatical and she offered her home on Long Island, New York as a free stopping point on our journeys up the east coast! Another friend's parents have a vacation home near Tempe, Arizona and have graciously said we could stay there for part of our southwestern field trip.
These encourageing offers have started new ideas stirring in my head.... Could we trade our vacation home on Fripp Island during the off season for other homes in America and abroad?
This is the most excited I have been about our future in years! We both feel this is the beginning of something wonderful for our whole family... What were we worried about again?
When Greg and I turned in our resignations, we expected hesitant acceptance, if not an outright dour attitude toward our decision. Instead, we met excitement and encouragement (I hadn't seen them in a long time these long lost friends!) Most people we have told are thrilled with our prospects and supportive of our plans. New opportunities sprung up with each conversation. One teacher friend spoke with her mother about our sabbatical and she offered her home on Long Island, New York as a free stopping point on our journeys up the east coast! Another friend's parents have a vacation home near Tempe, Arizona and have graciously said we could stay there for part of our southwestern field trip.
These encourageing offers have started new ideas stirring in my head.... Could we trade our vacation home on Fripp Island during the off season for other homes in America and abroad?
This is the most excited I have been about our future in years! We both feel this is the beginning of something wonderful for our whole family... What were we worried about again?
Monday, April 18, 2011
More Signs
Two more universal signs slapped me in the face this week. I didn't think it needed to be so jarring, but I don't control these things. The universe has its own way of getting our attention.
My first sign occurred in the medical field. A nurse called to tell me I needed a follow up mammogram; there was a spot on my previous one taken two days ago. Luckily, the appointment was the following day. After the digital mammogram, the doctor determined that the spot was still visible and ordered an ultrasound. With knees buckled, I braced for the worst. My husband's mother died of breast cancer 23 years ago after fighting it for over 8 years. She was only 44 years old. I turn 44 next month. Life is short. Her life was shorter than most. The older I get, the younger she gets. Even though I was only dating my husband when she died, I helped her as best I could through it all. I saw her battle again and again only to lose in the end. I know there is so much more that can be done today for treating breast cancer, but I did not want to think about it. The weight of what this could mean to me and my family made me feel 100. One hour later, I was free as a bird! The ultrasound showed a fluid filled cyst. "Nothing to be concerned about... See you in a year!" Wow! Life can change on a dime! The message I took from this tiny scare: Carpe Diem!
My second sign came when my daughter asked me to play a game with her and I automatically said no. I didn't even consider it. I had so many papers to grade and forms to fill out for 101 students that I didn't even think about taking a break to play with my rapidly growing eight year old. As she walked away, I could hear "The Cat's in the Cradle" playing on the radio in my head. I actually liked that song when I was a kid. Not a favorite now. I am missing out on my kids' childhoods. When I thought about it I realized I spend more time with other people's kids than my own.
Our family is stretched to the max timewise and working what feels like two fulltime jobs makes me as stressed as can be. We have dreamed of taking this family sabbatical to get healthy mentally and physically, socially and emotionally. I want to take a career break and try my hand at writing curriculum...
Am I asking for too much, Universe?
My first sign occurred in the medical field. A nurse called to tell me I needed a follow up mammogram; there was a spot on my previous one taken two days ago. Luckily, the appointment was the following day. After the digital mammogram, the doctor determined that the spot was still visible and ordered an ultrasound. With knees buckled, I braced for the worst. My husband's mother died of breast cancer 23 years ago after fighting it for over 8 years. She was only 44 years old. I turn 44 next month. Life is short. Her life was shorter than most. The older I get, the younger she gets. Even though I was only dating my husband when she died, I helped her as best I could through it all. I saw her battle again and again only to lose in the end. I know there is so much more that can be done today for treating breast cancer, but I did not want to think about it. The weight of what this could mean to me and my family made me feel 100. One hour later, I was free as a bird! The ultrasound showed a fluid filled cyst. "Nothing to be concerned about... See you in a year!" Wow! Life can change on a dime! The message I took from this tiny scare: Carpe Diem!
 |
| our neglected children |
Our family is stretched to the max timewise and working what feels like two fulltime jobs makes me as stressed as can be. We have dreamed of taking this family sabbatical to get healthy mentally and physically, socially and emotionally. I want to take a career break and try my hand at writing curriculum...
Am I asking for too much, Universe?
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Signs
I believe signs are everywhere. If you know where and when to look. That's a big IF! I think signs have been showing me things all my life, but most of the time I was looking in the wrong place. Well, I'm paying attention now.
In my first post on this blog, I wrote my true feelings down for the first time without flinching. I made the decision not to return to teaching next year and instead, pursue my other career dreams and fulfill our family's dream of traveling for a year at the same time. I wrote it in almost a stream of consciousness not really thinking about what I was saying. Immediately, I felt lighter...relieved. That's when the signs appeared.
The next day, I awoke and felt recharged. I was fired up enough to finish my writing project! It was the accomplishment I needed to confirm I could tackle my new career choice: writing curriculum for gifted education with which I have worked since 1998. I signed a publishing contract in February for my first project, but hadn't finished writing it. I was filled with doubt, but after deciding to commit to really doing this for a living- I finished!
That same afternoon, still high from the closure of the book, I received an email asking me to speak about my book's curriculum at the National Association for Gifted Children's national convention in New Orleans! How's that for affirmation! I'm suddenly feeling not so irresponsible after all!
In my first post on this blog, I wrote my true feelings down for the first time without flinching. I made the decision not to return to teaching next year and instead, pursue my other career dreams and fulfill our family's dream of traveling for a year at the same time. I wrote it in almost a stream of consciousness not really thinking about what I was saying. Immediately, I felt lighter...relieved. That's when the signs appeared.
The next day, I awoke and felt recharged. I was fired up enough to finish my writing project! It was the accomplishment I needed to confirm I could tackle my new career choice: writing curriculum for gifted education with which I have worked since 1998. I signed a publishing contract in February for my first project, but hadn't finished writing it. I was filled with doubt, but after deciding to commit to really doing this for a living- I finished!
That same afternoon, still high from the closure of the book, I received an email asking me to speak about my book's curriculum at the National Association for Gifted Children's national convention in New Orleans! How's that for affirmation! I'm suddenly feeling not so irresponsible after all!
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Time to Poop or get off the Pot!
To "clean" up my grandmother's favorite phrase, it is April and teaching contracts will be out any day now. We have been talking about taking a sabbatical year off from our regular jobs for five years. Yes, we know it is a mid-life crisis. Yes, we know the economy has changed dramatically in the past five years. What seemed totally resonable five years ago seems down right insane today. Yes, we know. We're doing it anyway. We have been running the middle class American marathon for over 15 years and we need a break!
We have made the pros and cons list. Both sides are long. Pro- We get lots of time with the kids. Con- We get lots of time with the kids. You see how the list goes... Our lists are like Newton's Third Law: For every Pro there is an opposite and equal Con. That is why it is time do what Mama Ruby always said (see title of post.) We need to do it or shut up about it. I am not signing my teaching contract for next year.
Oh, God! Did I just say that?
We have made the pros and cons list. Both sides are long. Pro- We get lots of time with the kids. Con- We get lots of time with the kids. You see how the list goes... Our lists are like Newton's Third Law: For every Pro there is an opposite and equal Con. That is why it is time do what Mama Ruby always said (see title of post.) We need to do it or shut up about it. I am not signing my teaching contract for next year.
Oh, God! Did I just say that?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)