Last year my New Year Resolutions were more about discerning the major change in my life - deciding whether to retire or to teach one more year after 26+ years in the classroom. All my lists were on the pros and cons of each. Retiring was the right decision for me. I started with High School and finished in Middle School. I loved most of it and was happy to see it end. Here are my thoughts on retirement from teaching. Leave me your comments!
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| The journey is incredible! |
I’m retiring!
by Bea Skeens May 2011
I’m so happy retiring
The decision is made
My life will be changing
and I’m feeling just great
It was hard at first
To stop what I do best
Teaching is my vocation
Now I’ll be always on vacation
What I’ve loved about teaching
Is the learning and the sharing
With the students the lessons
With the teachers, preparing
Researching the standards
Made me learn and grow
Test making and grading
Was an unwanted chore
The rules and regulations
To be self controlled
Working toward proficiency,
For mastery and fluency
In my classroom I am ME
What God made me to be
Sharing my experiences, my travels, myself
To yearn to serve and want to learn
Today they are testing
And I look at each face
How little I know them
So what can I say?
To know each by name
A new challenge each day
Just listen and sit down!
Where’s your paper and pen?
I want to love each one
The nice and the sweet
I try to like most of them
The loud and the sneaks
Inspiring, enabling, enriching, forgiving
Loving, caring, listening, affirming
NOT frowning, nor yelling, impatient, belittling
Not tired, nor punishing, ignoring, nor failing
To not talk about students
In frustration and anger
But to try to understand
Their situation and problems
To answer each question
To not put them down.
To treat everyone equally
To smile more than frown.
To stretch their minds
To broaden their views
To look over the fence
Explore and be more
To teach them that life
Is more than the grade
Success is a goal
You can’t reach in a day
And what does my future hold?
What will I do?
I am open and willing
To face the unknown.
To face the unknown.
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| I know that I will enjoy the learning experiences with my grandchildren! |
Hola,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad I found you. We are starting this retirement journey at the same time. My retirement date was September 1. I also taught Spanish for over 20 years! It sounds like you are well on your way to fashioning a new life. Congratulations, and I look forward to following your blog.
Anna