It's a great day and time to be alive in!
The school year has nearly come and gone now. For 38 years I've been doing this and each year as I've approached the month of May, I have marveled at how wondrous the job of being a teacher really is. I'm sure that I said the very same thing in May of 1980 as I will say in May of 2016.
Where on earth did the time all go?
I'm getting older and my time in the classroom will need to come to an end sooner than later. I still have some "teacher" left in me and a strong desire to continue on. I pray to achieve my goal of 40 years in all and the good Lord willing, I hope to do just that. If I make it through two years more, I will be willing to say it is enough and step aside to allow another teacher to take my place. We shall see what the future holds for me. What a wonderful ride this whole journey has been and how very grateful I am that I listened to God's calling when I entered my very own classroom for the first time in August of 1979. I've been there ever since.
I've surely seen many changes over the course of nearly 4 decades. My first 5 years were spent in the era of the mimeograph machine, where my hands turned blue from the ink that the machine used to run off copies. It was hard back then to make a copy, unlike today when all you do is put a piece of paper in and push a button and friends, that is much too easy! One thing I do know is that we teachers were way more cautious about how many worksheets we gave a student back then. If they had to be made by mimeograph, then a person was extremely selective about how many to run off. Imagine a classroom where students got only a few worksheets each week......it could happen and it did.
The changes have been aplenty and the teacher dress code is one of them. I taught for the first couple of years without the option of wearing jeans or slacks to school. Three years into my career, someone came up with the idea that it would be ok to wear slacks to school on Friday. There would be another two years that would pass before we were allowed to wear jeans. Back in the old days, I used to wear only dresses to school. Now I have one basic black dress in my closet. In a way, that's sad. Perhaps it became a sign of the times or maybe it's a sign that I should go dress shopping.
Either way.
Since 1979, computers and modern technology have crept in. The chalkboard was replaced by the whiteboard which in turn was replaced by the smart board. Children and young teachers alike have no concept of what it was like to beat an eraser against an old tree in the school yard to get rid of the excess chalk dust. Sorry, but I believe that's a sad thing too. I guess that is a sign of the times as well.
The list of changes in 4 decades of time could go on and on. I wouldn't have enough time or space to list them all. Being able to provide a nutritious breakfast to kids each day, teaching them about the dangers and the benefits of the internet, having summer school and even Saturday school, state mandated assessments, and a gazillion other things are just a small part of their lives.
One thing however, has not nor will it ever change.
I love children and being able to teach them what they need to know.
As I finish up this 38th year in just a few weeks more, I give thanks to the Creator above who saw fit to call me a "teacher". He absolutely knew what would be the best "fit" for a shy little girl named Peggy Ann. Wisely, I followed His lead.
None of us knows what lies ahead in the future but one thing I can predict for myself is that my life will always revolve around children. Talk about the most valuable thing ever to invest in!
The best lessons that you can teach kids will absolutely NEVER be found on anyone's state standards, but they should be.
No comments:
Post a Comment