Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Retirement Feelings - School Supply Stress






Retirement Feelings - School Supply Stress
Summer, 2012

As strange as it may seem, walking into a store and seeing countless racks of new school supplies during the summer following retirement affected me in a very negative way.  Feelings of  illness suddenly overwhelmed me combined with grief and regret that I would not be returning to school. When I arrived home, I did some real soul-searching.  

I told myself that I could not continue to react this way; negative feelings are simply not productive.  Of course I would miss the children and staff, but there are some things about teaching that I would not miss. Instead of dwelling on, "Why me?  Why did I have to get sick?", I went home and wrote a list of some of the least favorite and/or dreaded activities related to teaching. That list follows:  


No longer will I be required to do the following:
  • Regular Duty
  • Breakfast Duty
  • Detention Duty
  • Lesson Plans
  • Grade Papers & Tests
  • Attend PLC Meetings
  • Attend other meetings (Parish-wide)
  •  Eagle Tests & Analysis
  • Design Tests & Projects
  • Copy &  Staple Papers & Tests
  • Deal with Discipline problems
  • Deal with incomplete assignments
  • Weekly Conduct Sheets & grades
  • Grade, record, and distribute weekly Signed Papers 
  • Plans for Substitute Teachers
  • Deal with irate parents (conferences and calls)
  • Write up Minor and Major Referrals
  • Administer, grade, and analyze Benchmark Tests (Math & ELA)
  • Reading Benchmark Tests         
  • LEAP Prep
  • LEAP Tutoring
  • LEAP Test
  • Send home "Failing Letters"
  • Etc., Etc., Etc...........

     I will admit that I felt much better after finishing the above list. Maybe retirement won't be so bad after all! I then went outside and sat in my  flower garden and thought happy thoughts about God's creation and healing!  With God's help, I will survive this!






No comments :

Post a Comment