The end of an era is almost upon us...well, the end of a decade. A decade of teaching French to high school students. An additional decade at the exact same place where I graduated from several years ago. A decade of definite highs and lows. There have been some years where I have had the most wonderful classes, and some years where I literally felt like beating my head against the wall EVERY.SINGLE.DAY.
It's hard to imagine what life will be like when I come back to work in August. Totally new building, totally new faces (both staff and students), totally new schedule. There are definitely lots of positives to the beginning of this new era. First, and most important, I finally get to put my $50,000 Master's degree to use, as well as my counselor license. My counselor license has been sitting collecting dust for the last 4 years (well, it did get quite a workout when I was applying for every counseling job within 50 miles of where I live and I had to make photocopies of it or scan it). I am very excited that I will no longer have to wake up at the ungodly hour of 4:50 A.M. and have to be showered, dressed, and ready to leave my house by 6 A.M. so that I can beat all of the drop off traffic at work. I am greatly looking forward to learning how to do something new and making my mind work in new and different ways.
There are several negatives that come along with this end of the current era (decade). I will be leaving the only place that I have ever truly worked as a professional, since I got hired here in December 2000 right after I finished my student teaching. I have grown very accustomed to having my own classroom (I have actually been in 3 different classrooms in the 10+ years I have been teaching here, having been in my current classroom for the past 6 of those years). I will have to fit all of my "stuff" into an office versus a roomy classroom. I will truly miss the staff where I currently work. Several of these people are like family to me, and I will really miss talking/socializing/commiserating with them. I will also miss the relationships that I have built with my students and their parents. Through the years I have had many siblings/relatives of different families and I feel that I have strong rapport with them.
As we all know, change is an inevitable part of life. I am ready for this next change, but it is a touch bittersweet. As I am counting down the days (8 not including the rest of today, and only 3 of those are actual "school days" without exams) I find myself happy to be wrapping up this era of teaching but a bit sad at the same time. Perhaps one day I will make a return to the classroom (I plan on keeping my French license up to date, as it is more expensive to let it lapse, and as we all know, it is good to have a backup plan) but for now I am looking forward to starting this new era of my career as an elementary school counselor.
Until next time, I remain,
Jenuinely Yours
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