I like to cross things off, count down and keep track of important dates. Right now, the number 121 refers to the number of school days left until the end of this school year. But it’s far more meaningful than that…it represents 121 days until my last day as a high school English teacher.
It’s been apparent to me for quite a while that I am ready to close the chapter on this experience and prepare for the next few chapters. There is so much more out there…people, experiences, learning. My time as a teacher has been ridiculously fulfilling and I plan to spend the next several months reflecting on my time working with teenagers. To that end, I hope to write a number of posts in the future to share what I’ve taken from the thousands of students who have passed in front of me.
Using some multi-colored paper clips, I’ve constructed a chain from which I will remove one clip each morning until there are no more. Currently there are…wait for it…121.
It is somewhat bittersweet but I know, in my heart and in my head, that it’s time. I do want to be more available to spend time with my aging mother and uncle. Plus, since love has found me late in life, I want to be able to spend more time with my man. Naturally I want more time to explore my writing and I have a few other ideas I’d like to investigate. For now, it’s full on about my students until the end of the school year. But after those 121 school days are done, it’s time for me!
thequarryschild
Such a great post, Miss Anderson! I counted down my final 100 days with “Teacher” pins I’d collected over the years. I pinned them all to a long ribbon, and removed one each morning when I got to school. I pinned it on whatever I was wearing, and at day’s end, i THREW IT IN THE TRASH! LOL I had collected a LOT of apple and chalkboard pins during my 30 year career teaching Kindergarten. It gave me so much joy to trash those pins. I hope that these final months of your teaching career are successful, fun, exciting, fulfilling and that they FLY!!!