~they call it the human one~

     I regret sometimes that my life in education will sooner or later have to come to an end. After doing this for so many years now, it is hard to imagine me doing anything else.  I think about it from time to time now, realizing of course that I cannot go on forever.  I have taught 7 years past my original retirement back in Kansas, and many times I have asked myself why I even retired in the first place. 

     I am not sure that I will ever know the answer to that.

     I think of all the children who have come in and out my classroom as well as in and out of my life. With a happy heart, I recall the many interactions with them and the different ways that I used to teach them.  I cannot recall one year that I wished for something else to do with my life. There was no class of children, never a group of parents, nor a single administrator that I encountered who ever made me feel like it was time to quit.  

     After almost 40 years, I think I can call that a pretty decent record.

     Once about 20 years back, I had entertained the notion of writing a book about all of my experiences in the classroom.  People encouraged me to do something such as that. It was amazing to think that 2 decades of service in the field of education would be enough fodder for a best selling book.  Yet, I felt that it was.  Little did I know how much more I would learn in the 20 years that would follow.

     In my mind, I believe I have become a better teacher post retirement.  I guess I always thought of myself as a decent educator, but in the past 7 years I feel like I became the teacher that I was really meant to be.  I go forward each day with even more confidence that what I am doing has the chance to make a difference for someone each day.  

     If I could go back in time, which I cannot, I'd kind of like to see the young woman who I was in the early years of being a teacher.  My guess is that I was pretty much naive, definitely a rookie, but still a person determined to do my best in the classroom.  Oh how times have changed since 1979!  During the early days, teachers weren't allowed to wear pants or jeans to school.  My first couple of years found me with a closet full of dresses to choose from each day. Now I don't own even one of them.   I would come home each day with hands the color of purple from making things on the mimeograph machine.  Now I get upset if the copier gets jammed up, especially when I really need the things that are stuck inside of it.  The early days had no state standards and extremely little testing.  In 2017 my days are driven by what children need to know to pass the state assessments each spring.    

     Change was inevitable.

     I do not know when I will quit teaching although I am asked that question on a pretty regular basis.  I always felt like when it was really time to say it is done, I would know for sure in my heart.  At this present time, that feeling is not with me and for that I really am glad.  

     You know, it feels good to be needed.  It feels honorable to go to school each day and work with children whose minds are like sponges that soak up every little bit of knowledge that they can.  It feels wonderful to spend my days with children who look past my faults and weaknesses, realizing of course one thing that is most crucial.

     They know that I belong to the same race that they do.
     And they call it the "human" one.

As a teacher, every day has been a new one for me.  By the same token, it has also been a new day for my students as well.  It's been good to be able to dismiss the bad things that could take place during any given school day and replace them with a chance for a "do over" for all concerned.   (a sunrise from July of 2011 on Eales Road in Reno County, Kanas)

From the school year 2006-2007 back home in Hutchinson, Kansas~
10 years have passed by me now.  The woman that I used to be is now 10 years farther along life's path.  She had no clue, even at age 51, what would lie ahead for her.  Probably a good thing that she didn't.