A Life in Teaching

At the end of this term I am retiring from teaching.  I began my career in 1983, working full-time until I had Kate in 1999 and part-time since then, stopping for a couple of years when she was small.  So that's over 35 years, most of my lifetime.  In fact, because the school where I teach isn't planning to open before the summer holidays, I have already taught my last lesson in a real classroom. 

I have mixed feelings about this.  I'm pleased to be escaping the spreadsheets and target setting and data capture which take up so much of my time;  I will no longer have to face inspections or prepare for lesson observations.  I'll no longer have to wade through every single word of  'A Christmas Carol' with a reluctant GCSE group just in case an obscure passage is set in the exam.  But I'll miss the company of young people and how they make me look at the world in a different way and I'll miss the day to day contact with my friends in the English department and the staffroom. 

In the last week a couple of things have happened which have made me reflect on my career in teaching - I can't go into details here for reasons of confidentiality. One of these incidents upset me; the other delighted me.  That just about sums up how it has been over the years.  There have been difficult lessons, disrespectful pupils and challenging moments.  But I still get that feeling of elation when a lesson goes really well, or I succeed with a tricky pupil or read a piece of of really good work a student has produced.  Maybe elation is too strong a word for it but you know what I mean.  So overall no regrets about my career choice.  

Other than some Zoom teaching this week life has continued in the new routine we've established in the last few months: dog walks, online quiz evenings, gardening for me cycling for him, eating and drinking slightly more than is advisable.  I also made some Elderflower Cordial with some flowerheads collected on a walk.  It does not look very appealing - family members have unkindly said that one of the bottles looks like giant urine sample.  It tastes ok though a bit too sweet for my taste - will use less sugar next time.  Thought about trying Elderflower Champagne which my dad used to make but the recipe says I needed champagne yeast which I didn't have.  I'm sure he didn't bother with that.  The last time I made it one of the bottles exploded so that also made me a bit wary.

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