I hope not to drone on and on about retirement for the next few days. At least you will see an end in sight as I have only one dozen days left to teach. It never ends. For example, I just shot down a student's essay, which had been copied straight from the internet... I can't explain how it is that we old teachers just "know" something is not from their minds and skills. Voice. We all have a voice in what we write. I hear it in your blogs, written from your hearts. It's what makes us realize we could be friends if geography had put us in the same neighborhood... It's why some blogs surface over and over again as our favorites.
And why is it that young people when caught, dead caught with the paper pulled up on Wikipedia, or in this case FREE ESSAY.COM or some such nonsense... don't then just hang their heads and say, "Got me." They insist they magically, miraculously came up with the exact same juxtaposition of words, phrases, and vocabulary arrangement (usually words not in their frame of reference at all.) I have lost more battles with this than I've won. Even with the administration and support... Cheating is cheating. In this case the young woman is a senior and plans to submit "her" essay to a contest for a scholarship being awarded by the family of a young soldier killed in Afghanistan. They may not catch it. And maybe the money will help her go on to school and be more than she is today... At any rate, I told her the truth. I found the paper online in about ten minutes, and I got one of my last big huffs of my career (I sincerely hope.) Put this kind of thing on the list of why retirement sounds delicious...
And so, taking the 180 day school calendar as my multiplier, I am Gayla of the 6,660 days... minus 12...
I feel as if I'm marching semi-awake, and semi dreamlike toward a veiled precipice... I seem okay with it... Whether I float, flail, or flat-out fall to my demise... I seem okay with marching right off that cliff.
1 comment:
You remind me often of a teacher at the school where I work. Her last 2 hours of work happened yesterday morning. She is a maiden lady and, like you, cared for her mother in a very hands-on way until she passed away a year ago. Retirement was a "head decision, not a heart decision" in her words. A health issue that needs addressing, continued coping with the loss of her mother, and assisting other family members who need her, along with the many frustrations that teaching continues to pile on to teachers sent her into retirment -- for the second time.
I hope that your retirement allows you to blossom in new and desired ways.
Laurie S.
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