since it has been more than a week since I last saw my students - spring break began a week ago Friday.
Yet I have not been totally out of touch from them - some have emailed me, as did several former students, in one case who had just heard that I was retiring.
And today I begin to refocus on the forthcoming week. Officially it begins at 8 AM on Monday, although I will not get to my classroom until sometime after 10, missing at least my first period, if not more. That's because at 9 AM I have an appointment to officially sign my retirement papers.
Some thoughts about that anon.
For my AP classes we have a review and then an exam on our last unit, then one more brief unit, then we begin the process of preparing for the AP exam. One task today is to put together the review materials I want them to have and be able to use.
For my regular classes, we continue to go through additional material to help them understand their government. But the weather is warm, many of them are tired of school, there is no high stakes exam that they face, so the real issue is to find a way to get them motivated.
The week will end on a high note: on Friday we will be visited by 21 students and 3 teachers from an all-girls high school in Sydney Australia. I met the teacher electronically several years ago when she was researching Greenbelt, where we are located, because she teaches American History with an emphasis on the New Deal and Greenbelt was a New Deal planned community. Two years ago she visited my classes and this year she wants her students to experience our school. Each student will be paired with one of my girls for five periods. Second period, when I am free, we will all come together for some chat. The other periods they will attend classes and/or eat an American school lunch - they really wanted to do that! Go figure!
For all the excitement that represents, my focus is on Tuesday.
My students and the adults in the school all know I have decided to take the buyout and retire. Yet it is not official until I sign those papers.
I was sent a packet, and the papers now need little more than my signature, as I have filled them out, had my bank fill out the part for direct deposit, and so on. It will take perhaps 30 minutes to go through, make sure they are complete and that I understand the implications of each choice, sign and have them notarized.
I have had to calculate the implications of various choices.
The financial picture has improved slightly.
The school system has agreed to pay 2,000 of our national board stipends by the end of this school year, which means we will get another 2,000 from the state match. I was not expecting that money.
The state has decided to give me retirement credit for my time in the Marines, which increases my pension by a bit over 150/month, not spectacular, but also not insignificant.
And I had forgotten that I am entitled to 30% of my unused sick leave. That means I will have something over $5,000 I had not included in my planning.
Still, I will need additional income.
I have tentatively been offered a consulting gig that could turn into a permanent job, but up front represents perhaps 100 hours, at a price yet to be determined, but likely to be well over 100/hour. Have an interview on Monday for a job that would make use of my knowledge of and experience in blogging. Have applied for a couple of teaching positions (although I do not have high expectations on any of these). Am moving to reinstate my Virginia teaching certificate, which might enable me to obtain a teaching job relatively close to my home (about a 15 minute drive in traffic).
As one still officially employed as an educator until June 30, I was delighted to learn yesterday that the panel I proposed for NN12 had been accepted. If you attend the morning session at 10:30 on Friday June 8, you will have the opportunity to hear me moderate a panel on what progressives can do to help save public education with two outstanding panelists: Linda Darling-Hammond and Diane Ravitch!
Today I will be planning for my remaining responsibilities as a teacher. Today i will also be working on my responsibilities as a citizen: I just started our tax returns, and hope to complete them before I return to school.
Yet with all I have on my plate, which includes finishing one more book review before I head back to school (having sent off several earlier this week), I still find myself stopping every now and then and reflecting upon what being a teacher means to me.
If I do leave the classroom for good, I will miss being with the adolescents who have so enriched my life over the last 16+ years. They are a constant reminder of our responsibility to the future, their future. They make me mindful that I cannot think only of myself or of immediate concerns.
Of greater importance, they have helped keep me young at least in spirit - the creaks and aches of my body remind me that my mind and spirit may not age but I carry the experience of almost 66 years of living in my bones and flesh.
One cat curled up next to me, another at my feet.
Sadly I will now disturb both as I arise to begin my tasks of this day and the two that follow before i return to school.
For those of you celebrating the Resurrection or Pesach, may this holiday weekend bring you joy.
And also
Peace.