When I was a child I had a cardboard box filled with items that I used for playing school. I sometimes had a difficult time convincing my friends to make believe with me because they were already in school and somehow using their free time to work math problems and take tests was not their idea of having fun. I on the other hand loved being a teacher. I even created report cards for my playtime students. I suppose you might say that I was destined to be a teacher even in my childhood. School was a place of joy and discovery for me. I enjoyed reading and learning even with the teachers that I did not especially like. Being a devoted student was something I was able to control after the chaos of losing my father. Somehow I needed to know that I was in charge of my own destiny and being in a school setting has always brought a sense of joy to me.
Ultimately I chose educating young people as my profession. There were times when it was difficult and I had to work hard to keep my students engaged and moving forward in their academic progress. Even in the toughest years I knew that I had chosen the right career. In spite of the salary that did not come close to competing with other choices I might have made, the everyday excitement of watching young people grow in wisdom was reward enough for me.
I retired on the day before my mother died. Ironically I had chosen to free up my time in order to care for her since she had been diagnosed with cancer. I spent a few months enjoying the freedom of not having any place to go and soon realized that I was already missing my interactions with students. Before long I was tutoring and then once again becoming a mathematics teacher for children who are homeschooled. Instead of taking vacations in the fall or spring, I have tied myself down to the school calendar just as I have done for so many years. Somehow it would not feel right to watch the children in my neighborhood riding off for school in August and not have anything to do with my age old tradition of greeting a new group of eager young faces hoping to learn about math while also admitting that it is not really their favorite subject.
I’m old school in that I still use a traditional lesson planning book. I like to be able to jot down notes about what was right and what was wrong with my lessons as I go along. The computer is fine but I want to be able to instantly assess myself and my pupils with comments about each goal that I have created for a particular session.
This year I will have a different challenge. I have some students who will be taking a Business Math class at a local community college. I have studied a synopsis of the curriculum and think that I may have to do some reviewing before feeling confident to help them if they run into trouble. I haven’t done much with statistics or linear programming for quite some time and I don’t want to be checking for information at the last minute. Everyone’s time is too valuable to waste while I brush up. So I have ordered some old textbooks from Abe Books that should help me stay ahead of where they are surely going. I plan to set aside some time each week to get myself up to speed and I’m already feeling intrigued by the idea of learning something different from what I usually do.
I’ve been to Target to purchase all the school supplies my students will need. There is nothing like just sharpened pencils and spiral notebooks with a year’s worth of room for taking notes. It’s like getting a new pair of shoes and a cute outfit for the first day of the academic year. I have always enjoyed watching the initial eagerness of the students in the early days and weeks. Of course much of the enthusiasm tends to wane as we edge toward Christmas, but that’s still a long way off and this is the prime time for introducing new concepts and challenges.
I suppose that I sound like a world class nerd but I have always believed that there are few gifts that we give our children, other than love and security, that are as likely to stay with them for all of their lives than education. I have often wondered why we sometimes take it so for granted. Maybe if it were not so readily available we might be more inclined to look forward to the new school year as much as we do a vacation. It is a splendid gift that literally changes the world in which we will live.
This is a time when I think of my own favorite teachers and professors and hope that they knew how much I appreciated them. So just in case they never realized how important they were to me here is a short list of the ones who left the greatest impression on me. Some have gone the the great beyond but hopefully the ether will send a message to them. So starting with my pre-school days here they are:
My mother, Ellen Little
Mrs. Wright
Sister Camilla
Mrs. Powers
Mrs. Loisey
Mrs. Colby
Sister Mary Lester
Mrs. Getz
Father Bernard
Father Franz
Dr. James Cooper
Dr. Howard Jones
Dr. Carl Lindahl
Dr. Roger Durand
Here’s hoping that everyone enjoys the 2024-2025 school year wherever you are and hoping that learning will be fun.
All It Takes Is A Little Love 