FAREWELL

Well, I did it. I'm done. It's over. Finished. Final. Kaput.

I'm retired....

Or resigned....

I QUIT TEACHING.

For the second time. (Tip of the day: "retiring" kind of loses it's impact on others when you do it more than once.)

Thursday was the last day of school for the kids, and Friday was a workday for the teachers. I drove up to East Side for the last time as a 6th grade math teacher.

From August 1973 through May 1976, I roamed these same halls as a 4th, 5th, and 6th grader. That's the cool part about small town life. I remembered where my lockers were from 40 years ago. The Annex is the same. The gym is the same. It's possible the carpet is the same! Yuk!

Some of my sixth graders were getting so sentimental about leaving East Side. I had to hold back a laugh when I told them, "Don't worry. You might be back here someday." I was - TWICE!

This is the sight that greeted me when I walked into my hallway Friday morning:

Isn't that hilarious?!! If you can't see through the glare, it says:

" Unm Unemploi

Jobless

Please

Help

Thank's"

It's standing up in a box - with a hole in the bottom - right outside my classroom door!

What a hoot! The person who did this knows me VERY WELL - easy to do in a small town!

For 14 of my 17 years as a teacher, I taught Language Arts - either in a self-contained classroom (teaching all subjects to the same group of kids all day long) or as a dedicated Reading/Language Arts teacher. I'm a bit of a Language Arts snob. I believe words should be spelled correctly (hence the strikethroughs and choice of an easier-to-spell word.) I believe the Rules of Punctuation and Capitalization (capitalization added here for effect) should be followed to the letter. Rules are rules, people. They aren't there just for fun! That's where the apostrophe in "Thank's" comes in. This person knows that it DRIVES ME NUTS. People do this all the time - just put apostrophes in willy-nilly. Apostrophes have a purpose: to show ownership or to hold the place of a missing letter or letters in a contraction. THEY DO NOT BELONG IN PLURALS.

(Big John often has to hold me back in stores and restaurants when I spy an errant apostrophe. I feel duty-bound as a certified (certifiable) teacher to politely but firmly point out the mistake, offer to give them the correction and throw in a free mini-tutorial on apostrophes. You'd be surprised at how seldom people see this as helpful.)

Please, for the love of a teacher, learn when and where to use apostrophes.

Thank you. I will get off my soapbox now and finish this post.

So this little sign started my day off on a great note! What a hoot!

But no one would claim ownership of this hilarious farewell.... until yesterday. My high school friend Roy Ray (that's an inside joke) works for the district and is on our campus two or three times a week. Or day. Just depending on what's going on. So we talk when we get a chance. I've given Ray a lot of grief about his decision to go back to school and get his teaching degree. I offered to let him see what it's like - first hand with my 6th graders - before it's too late to turn back! We've talked in depth about my embarrassing choice of reading material (fluff) compared to another high school friend of ours who also teaches at East Side (classics, theory, HARD) and at length about the misuse by the general public of apostrophes.

So yesterday, when Big John and I happened to see Roy Ray out and about in town, he asked about my "Jobless" sign. Quick as a wink I put two and two together (I was a Math teacher, after all) and realized Ray had made my sign and collection plate!! How sweet!

(In case you're wondering, I collected: a package of teddy grahams, a pencil, a giant roll of Nerds, a giant roll of Smarties, two very old Tootsie Rolls and an aluminum can. Not much of a start on the retirement fund. I got 7 cents for the can.)

I'm leaving a wonderful group of teachers. Here's our 6th grade team:

There are lots of big smiles because grades are in, report cards are mailed, rooms are clean-ish, and summer is only 2 hours away!!! I'm smiling extra-big so I don't start bawling like a baby.

Here's the "lady" that has taken my spot - and has already taken over my classroom. She just threw me out into the hallway. Just tossed me out. Kicked me in the rear. Told me never to come back.

I've known Tami all my life. Literally, all my life. That's another cool thing about small towns. You know EVERYBODY. That's really neat - unless you don't like them, because you see them EVERYWHERE, EVERYDAY. Like in your old classroom.....

Just kidding!! Tami's a kidder, so I can say that about her. And she never reads my blog, so she'll never know I said it!!

She's an awesome Math teacher and will really enjoy the 6th grade team. She only has to give the TAKS test once in 6th grade (as oppposed to seemingly every other week in 5th grade) so she's already two steps ahead! Good luck Tami! Enjoy Room 1! Watch out for that big wrinkle in the carpet right as you step inside the door. And the leak in the hallway right outside the room. Oh, and there may be a rat in the closet. Other than that, it's great!  Now you won't have to pull into the parking lot before 7:44, 'cause your room is right across the hall from the office. One step inside and you're there!!! Just watch out for the calling of the candy basket - it's right across the hall, too.

Here's my Duty Buddy. She's telling me how much she'll miss me being late or leaving early for car duty, bus duty - or never even showing up for sidewalk duty. Sorry Lindley, I'm NOT going to miss duty!

Here's Megan and her mom, Dana, one of our PE teachers, God bless her! Dana gets to coach at the Jr. High next year, in addition to her East Side PE duties! Yea for her - that will be awesome! And Megan is one of my former students, now a grown-up-too-soon 8th grader. She worked her tail off in 6th grade Math, and I'll always have a big spot in my heart for her! And now I'm tearing up again...

And this Longhorn! We're convinced we're really sisters, somehow. What an amazing teacher/friend/confidant/person/angel Jeanette is! We lost touch 11 years ago when I left teaching the first time (she wouldn't return my phone calls or emails or letters....) but picked right back up where we left off when I returned. We won't lose touch this time!

There are so many wonderful memories of my time(s) at East Side and of teaching. I will miss some of the kids, and I will miss teaching - those "aha" moments when you can actually SEE the lightbulb come on. Sometimes it comes on slowly, like those new-fangled lightbulbs the government is forcing us to buy (another soapbox moment) and sometimes it comes on like a floodlight, lighting up the whole room. However it happens, that's an amazing feeling and it's what teachers work for. Believe me, it's not for the pay, it's not for the hours upon hours upon hours spent grading papers, writing lesson plans, cutting out shapes, gathering supplies for an experiment or activity. It's for the joy a child feels when they finally "GET IT!" I will miss those moments, and I will miss my friends.

And now I'm bawling like a baby.

In the words of Forrest Gump, "And that's all I got to say about that."

***DISCLAIMER: My extensive knowledge of Language Arts rules and regulations only extends to 6th grade. If you see mistakes or misspellings, please notify me asap. I will be very appreciative!!