"It was a teacher who changed the direction of my life..."

Newly retired from classroom teaching, I still feel a desire to stay connected to the complicated issues of public education and gifted education. This Op-Ed article from today's New York Times is worth noting for those friends and family of mine who continue to teach and to  those of us who will always be teachers no matter what else we do.

 

Elementary teachers return from summer break to days of classroom preparation for their young students. The important job of planning lessons around the curriculum is only one of their catalogue of tasks. Other tasks are much more mundane but necessary. Unloading tubs and boxes from June pack-up or moving classrooms, as pictured, can take many hours. One way I can help is to be available to my former elementary school colleagues for humdrum tasks to make copies, affix labels, sort books, whatever else I can do to help get ready for a new school year. So I will be available to them in their preparation time. I can't count the times that, as I slogged through all the physical but necessary tasks that delayed me from the important planning, I wished for a personal "gopher" or private secretary. I vowed I would try to serve in this capacity once I could.