Back in the Saddle

I was retired for three days. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Today I set up my classroom for summer school. This summer school program, although run by the local PTA Council, is not part of the public schools. It is a tuition-based program the Council set up back in 1987 as a replacement for the summer school programs that had previously been available to all students but had been eliminated due to budgetary cutbacks. This was an enrichment program by design. That first year my partner teacher and I started developing a sea life program. It has been an integral part of this summer school since that first year. I love teaching it. We have continually refined it, trying various projects, throwing out the ones that were less factual and engaging, and replacing them with more fun, targeted and streamlined ones. There have been times we taught six rooms of students, and times we have taught one. We have leveled out at three classes. It is 100% sea life. Or, as we say, 'all sea life, all the time'. It used to be my treat to myself after a busy school year of curriculum pacing, standards-based instruction, benchmarks, assessments, paperwork and shoving little square pegs into round holes. It's not really work, but it's not really retirement either. It will end two weeks from Friday. Then I'll be retired again.