I guess I didn't see it coming, but it's getting clearer year by year.
I am one of the "old ladies" on campus now.
How did this happen? I started teaching at 21, a baby, really. Unmarried and childless and still occasionally partying on the weekends. Was that really so long ago? I mean, there was the six years of teaching, then the six year hiatus when I finally decided to have those kids...and then the eleven years at the DAEP, and three back in resource, and those seven years behind the circulation desk in my first library, and now in the final few months of year three in this one....
I can't be that old, right? But it hit me square in the face this year when I found out that one of my assistant principals is a year younger than my oldest child, and I know the principal isn't much older than that. So I started counting how many of my colleagues were most likely over 55...and I'm pretty sure we have less than ten.
At one point, I looked around the room during a team meeting, and realized that I was the oldest one there, by far.
Me, the old lady on campus. Can I really be considering retirement in six years...already?
You are YOUNG! During a faculty meeting they asked how many years people have been teaching by 1-5 and then by decades. They stopped at 30 years and started to move on. I raised my hand and shouted, "42!" I'll be 67 in April. Hoping not to retire until 70! Now that's an old lady! You are young at heart! And so am I!
ReplyDeleteI feel young-ish, Joanne, and then I look around at these baby teachers and administrators...You impress me, one decade beyond mine and still going! I don't plan on retiring in full in six years, but I'm thinking of other avenues of employment, in or out of the education biz...A lot will depend on circumstances then, I guess!
DeleteIsn't it amazing how the years just fly by like that? And interestingly in teaching, there is a clear beginning and end date to each year- easier to tally, I guess. I love how you describe the different phases of your career and I chucked at remembering teaching in my early 20s. I guess if you're the old lady, the only thing left to do is embrace it and celebrate it!
ReplyDeleteI really do love my job, and six years doesn't seem that far away. I kinda wonder what a school would be like with nothing but over-fifty teachers...hmmm, might be another post in the making!
DeleteI remember my first year of teaching our TA laughing that she had shoes older than I was… Yeah, the list of teachers at our school who got a special email this school year because we meet or are close to the age that the Cambodian government says we can draw a pension is short- that’s when it hit me…
ReplyDeleteFrom Erika
ReplyDeleteYou've illustrated this "where did the time go?" feeling so well. I can relate. It felt like I was young and cool one second, then suddenly, I was not!
ReplyDeleteThe way we count the years, it just doesn't seem we've been teaching "that long" until we look around the room. I understand now. I'm the age my "work mom" was when I started having kids. It hit home one year when one of the teachers on my campus was a former student.
ReplyDeleteI can so relate. There are only a couple of teachers older than I am in my building, and all of my administrators are younger by at least 10 years. Now I'm imagining that school fully staffed and taught by over 55's. I kind of love it!
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