In the spring of 1979, I completed my final semester at the University of Tennessee. To earn my degree in Secondary English Education, I had to student teach. I don’t recall having any choice in where that would happen so I must have been assigned to Carter High School in the Knox County school system. […]
retirement
Posted inConfessions of a Teacher
Introduction to Gratitude Tour: An educator’s journey in retirement
In my final years of a career I’d not planned and sometimes questioned, multiple events led me to think about how very grateful I was for past Heads of School, colleagues, students and even high school friends who’d carved out a career in teaching. In the spring of 2024, I was wrapping up my 26th […]
Posted inFeatured
5 Signs You Have Become a Teaching Dinosaur – Are you Ready for Retirement?
Gather ye rose-buds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles today Tomorrow will be dying. The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun, The higher he’s a-getting, The sooner will his race be run, And nearer he’s to setting.  It happens suddenly in the course of a teaching […]
Posted inFeatured, Teacher Burnout
The End
You know the feeling you get when school is right around the corner? No, not the dreadful groaning of ‘no more summer.’ The other one. The feeling of excitement as you get your classroom decorated, put names on student desks, go to back to school lunches with your fellow teachers, see your newly painted classroom, […]