Let’s be cliché for a moment: sometimes life throws you curveballs and you just have to go with the flow, roll with the punches, and turn lemons into lemonade.
Now let’s just be real: I turned in my resignation letter yesterday, fully understanding it meant future insecurity. My only anxiety, though, is not a result of regret. I believe I did the right thing, but as I sit in my empty classroom, I wonder: will I survive? Can I actually walk away from teaching?
Education can be treacherous. Sure, kids can be rude, disrespectful and immature, but that’s not the problem. It’s the politics. Who knew teaching was political? From the outside, it looks like an easy job: go to work, assign some reading, grade some papers, take summers off.
But, that’s just what they want you to think. What you don’t see, though, are the hours of lesson planning; the administrators breathing down your back; the doom of standardized tests; the injustice, the blame, the scandal, oh my! For what — a salary? I think not.
I did not become a teacher to memorize the Georgia Performance Standards, or hold meetings on how to create the perfect essential question, or to coach basketball. I love literature, writing and people — and I’m pretty good at relaying that sentiment. When did that stop being enough?
Will I miss being a teacher? No. However, I’m going to miss the heck out of teaching.
JJ
