Cathy's Creative Corner: To Retire or Not to Retire
Mrs. Davis set quietly in the corner of the teacher’s lounge. She seemed to be mesmerized by the beautiful weather outside. All in all, she could think of a million other things she would like to be doing instead of heading to her last class of the day. After teaching for over 40 years, she has reached retirement age. More importantly, while still in good health, retirement could mean being able to travel like she and her husband want. Their desire is to visit all 50 states of the United States spending varying amounts of time according to the states popularity.
“I can see it in your eyes, Judy,” says Principal Smith. “That late-in-the-day planning period makes you dread going back to your 6th period classroom.”
“You may have a point,” smiled Mrs. Davis. “Nothing to do with the students, but this class does appear to be the one I dread the most.”
“I know exactly how you feel,” chimed in Ms. Little. “But I look forward to going back to my room because I know this is the last class of the day!” With that, she scampered out the door.
Turning to Principal Smith, Mrs. Davis whispered, “Do you know I was about to put her out of the lounge? From her attire, I thought she was a student’s parent waiting on prey. You know you can’t look at a student wrong without somebody getting offended. Then I find out she’s a teacher and we teach the same grade level! Having smaller teacher pods where four core teaches work together with the same group of students is great, but I think we should still have mass meeting with all the teachers. The unison of being a teacher is missing.”
“I’ll consider that, Judy, and next year I’ll make sure your planning period is earlier,” answered Principal Smith.
“What did I say about next year?” jabbed the teacher. “I’m telling you, this is probably my last year. Don’t worry. I’ll submit my resignation in plenty of time.”
“We’ll all hate to see you go,” he says lovingly to the tenured teacher. “You are such an encyclopedia of knowledge on ‘the do’s and don’ts’ of teaching. We’ve always turned to you to call the plays for handling difficult situations and you’ve never once steered us wrong.”
“I hate to say it,” she answers, “but my playbook needs a revision. It’s outdated and losing its luster. Technology has really changed the game when it comes to children and their learning needs. And it’s NOT for the better. I’m an English teacher but I need to be a computer programmer to teach todays’ students anything. In other words, they don’t worry about spelling because the computer will check it for them. No need to worry about past tense, present tense, etc. because the computer notifies them of grammatical errors. Lastly, their handwriting is atrocious! No one writes anything anymore. All their work is done on computer and printed off. Don’t get me wrong! That is fine and dandy when they have already acquired the skills of writing and spelling and English composition. However, from what I’ve experienced over the last few years, the technology takeover for these kids started in grade school with cell phone texting. They’ve missed out on a lot. They depend on their Genie, the computer to make sure their papers are correct. Another thing……..do you think they read books like we did? Heavens, no! Not since the birth of audiobooks. They load the books to their tablets and listen. It’s not the same. It is not the same,” Mrs. Davis sighed shaking her head. She takes a deep breathe, puts a smile on her face, and enters her classroom.
“Good afternoon, Class! I hope you’ve had a pleasant day today. Your writing assignment this afternoon is a two page report on any state of your preference. Write why you would like to go there to visit. Feel free to use your tablets to reference information. Write as if you’re writing for a travel magazine by being creative and very descriptive. If you don’t finish in class today, you’ll get extra credit by finishing at home tonight. Okay? Well, let’s get started!”
