This year is not a good year at school. We are given our weekly lesson plans...which means we are told what to teach, when to teach it and how to teach it. No allowing for any teacher individuality at all. My principal came in for a "walk through", a 15 minute stop in my room which later gets written up. One comment was that the kids seemed bored doing the worksheet so I need to make it more fun. The worksheet was given to me along with my lesson plans. We are supposed to teach with games on the computer and now with a Promethean board. When I was in school, we used, books, paper and pencils. And not to sound conceited but I turned out as a reasonably intelligent person with very good communication skills. And it was NOT all fun. A lot of my education involved boring repitition of facts and words.
Today the kids want FUN in the classroom. If they are not having fun, they get bored. And that is not good. (Poor little things!) I'm wondering how many skills all these kids are losing. Letter-writing is a thing of the past for the most part. Now when we get notes from parents, the messages look like written out text messages! (What do U need this 4?) How is a young person supposed to fill out a job application if they don't understand how to use pencil and paper? I guess all human resource offices will have to have computers or Promethean boards put in so the applications can be done. And a friend of mine commented that the reason why young people move from job to job, never holding one for very long, is that they get bored and need to find something "more fun"! Where would the U.S. be if MY generation had had that mind-set?
We are producing a generation of game-playing mindless assembly-line robots. No more will we have the great free thinkers of the past who came up with electicity, light bulbs, airplanes. Because you have to try over and over to get a new idea to work and that gets boring!
Anyway, teaching is not fun anymore. It's not boring, although all the paperwork is. But we cannot utilize our individual teaching styles nor can the kids learn according to their individual learning styles. Not when we are given, what when and how to do all that we do. So it's time to say GOODBYE to education (after 32 years) and move on to something NOT BORING and lots more FUN!
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| Why I'm retiring (and why young people move from job to job)... |
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Fender
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Oct 31 @ 8:53PM
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Happy Retirement Sign! Love the new pic...I'm sorry it's working out that way but your right...Sucks.
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snidegrass
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Oct 31 @ 8:54PM
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my roommate at ucsb in 1968 majored in leisure studies.
as he knew, too rich to work. what him work. computer do all that.
and so....the peace and fun party. how to have fun at all times.
having fun can be hard to do. some people really get sick
and tired of fun, fun, fun. the party is over. and its time
to clean up. having fun, cleaning after all the good good good fun?
paper pick up at a giant fun festival. and cleaning of the work houses.
where those detained don't wanna clean, they wish for servants
to magically appear and clean everything for them. party heaven?
or party hell? or party purgatory? but its party time at the partiers party.
partying on for the Party. how to party safely. partying safe, sane and sober.
the ice cream social's punch, may be poisoned by the women's choir???
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moon_watcher53
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Oct 31 @ 9:03PM
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I heard and continue hearing the word FUN until it became disgusting to me. I dwelt on it for a very long time and began to wonder what the difference between FUN and ENJOYMENT might be. I kept thinking about and about 10 years ago while driving along, it came to me.
"FUN is the exciting 'high' one get but comes out of someone else's pocket,
ENJOYMENT is the same exciting 'high' but you pay for it yourself."
All those kids you've became uninterested in teaching are the product of their parents having FUN !!
The best to ya, just have FUN
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gunn12fan
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Oct 31 @ 9:04PM
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I wish you all the best of luck in finding something fun to do after you retire from the school..there is always something fun to do..like working in a zoo or..something like that.. 
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1frantastic
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Oct 31 @ 9:12PM
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I used to teach...and did NOT have lesson plans made for me...because I was NOT a "regular ed teacher" who could share creating lesson plans by grade level...per subject...with choices to use what you wanted so it could be "fun" without having to do all the work yourself...
Sounds great! BUT...I was Special Ed...and had 12 kids...and only 2 at the same grade level...and each child had a different learning style...or could learn at all...
so I had no help with lesson plans...but DID have to do all that reg ed teachers did...state testing(which had to be modified to fit my kid's level of learning)report cards with NUMERICAL grades AND an Individual Education Plan updated as same time report cards went out(even though they cold be as many as 12 pages long per child) and my principal would NOT give me time to prepare reports during school hours..nor have one of HIS aides relieve me to give my 2 aides a 15 min break 2 x a day...I had to go bathroom during the 45 min period I had to "train the aides,do lesson plans,contact parents,set up computer programs for students, grade papers, and oh yeah...breathe.....without the students in the room...they went for PE...unless cold then they were in my room and PE was skipped....
Soooo...teachers CAN'T teach anymore...even when they have freedom to do it...don't have time to teach cause have "paper-work" which is to report why they are not teaching....
At least I know...some of the kids I have had WILL SURVIVE ...BECAUSE they were part of my class.....and WE learned...about life...living with others...and how to manage ...ANYWAY....
I "quitired" and am not teaching..er...suffering anymore with the school system!
Happy Halloween!
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Tiramisu4u
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Oct 31 @ 9:22PM
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Bless you, for ..OMG...32 years of teaching!!!!  You are among a large group of dedicated people, that wouldn't have stayed and fought for our children, without loving what you do.
You are not only a teacher, but a babysitter, therapist, nurse, friend, counselor, knight, hugger, a soft shoulder to cry on, disciplinarian, and psychiatrist to what, thousands of our kids, for those 32 years.  And for what? The money???
No...because you CARE! It doesn't get much better than that...
I, personally, want to thank you...from the depths of my soul...for the difference you probably have made for many kids. 
God Bless you....
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Heart2Heart453
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Oct 31 @ 9:22PM
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I"m glad my children are "almost" finished with school. This year all the kids in the high school in our district were given macbooks. Guess what, my son who is usually a 3.50 student is now somewhere around 2.5...yep, the kids are goofing off and playing online most all day. Way to go guys, this was a wonderful move!
Geez, this blog wasn't about me was it...sorry. Have you considered teaching at a charter school after retirement or possibly some other type of teaching? Maybe there's somewhere that you can still do what you love?
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bardnsage
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Oct 31 @ 9:32PM
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Isn't it ironic,,, that the massive years the adminstrators and experts from the state spent in deep study about the different learning styles of children,, they never figured out that their are different teaching styles, and how to maximize those styles for more effective learning.
In fact,, they even forgot about the kids, when they made their one size fits all curriculum. Yeah,, it's just fine for the plain vanilla kid in the middle of the curve,,, but there are not that many of those kids.
The low performers,,, left out. The high perfromers,,, left out. Sad.
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luneib
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Oct 31 @ 9:36PM
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My sister used to teach Art class in Junior High, the kids gave her a hard time, she finally ended up quitting teaching, now she does displays for a department store, she used to have free reign to be creative, do the displays as she wished, now everything has blue prints and such and you have to do it the way corporate wants it, everything is so regimented. She is also taking early retirement this year, she just can't handle it anymore, not to forget that they tripled her work, she now has 6 departments, all to do in one weeks time, geeez. I think she used to have something like 2 departments. She said it's physically impossible.
Anyhoo, I hope you find something fun to do once you retire. Sorry to hear things have changed so much in the teaching profession.
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missliss78
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Oct 31 @ 9:57PM
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Sign, I am just glad for you that you are able to know you made the right decision already. I know it's a long time until the end of school & it's probably not going to be very pleasurable for you, but hang in there. I wish you well.
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lovestobake
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Oct 31 @ 11:22PM
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Can only hope they finds work that is fun.
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travelwoman
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Nov 1 @ 12:25AM
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I saw on TV "THE school" where everything the kids needed doing was to be made fun to do. The media referred to this school as the school of the future or some such thing.
I got to think and wonder about it.
And I came to the same conclusion as you did: we learned more and faster than the kids nowadays seem to do, and we had no fun.  It was booooooooooooooring...  , the teachers weren't holding our little hand full time.... 
But we sure did learn a bunch of things. 
Instead of fun we had discipline.
It worked pretty good on me, and on others, too... 
Now, they try to make everything "fun", even the non-fun things. And they banned discipline from schools.
It seems to me that it's somehow related: cover the lacking of enforcement up with fun...
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travelwoman
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Nov 1 @ 12:26AM
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PS... at home, when my boy does his homework, it's not fun. There is a job to be done and he does it. If he complains.... it's the same... "just get'er done!"
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exvagabond
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Nov 1 @ 4:52AM
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…the reason why young people move from job to job, never holding one for very long, is that they get bored and need to find something "more fun"! Where would the U.S. be if MY generation had had that mind-set? Well, who dropped the ball?
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cowboy2x4
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Nov 1 @ 9:10AM
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the sad part is...
teaching is boring...
and the kids view the learning as boring as well...
if this keeps up,one day the White House will have a President Jethro Bodine in it.
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sloriver
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Nov 1 @ 10:58AM
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Sometimes it's so hard to change and adapt to things you don't approve of. I take solace in knowing my teachers felt the same about me. The handwritten letter is a thing of the past. It's not done or expected, except for those of us who grew up on it. I wonder if it's a good thing but then I can't argue with the fact that my emails are much easier to read than my hand writing. I couldn't read my script so I started printing. Now, after a couple of weeks I can't remember what I printed and I can't read it. Thank God for keyboards. BTW, in a few years it'll all be voice recognition and the keyboard will be a thing of the past too. I wonder when they'll have word processors that read minds and print them out in book form. Steven King, watch out!
Enjoy your retirement but keep busy. It's the key to long life.
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butterfly943
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Nov 1 @ 6:01PM
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I hate to hear of a good teacher leaving but good luck and enjoy the next part of your life
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redhairNfreckles
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Nov 5 @ 2:05AM
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sign, as you already know my late sister was a high school history teacher. You remind me so much of her in the dedication that you have for teaching. She too, worried and fretted about her students and the restrictions put upon teachers that prevented them from doing what they do best......teach.
She too was close to retirement and would say, "just one more year.....just one more year". But God had other plans for her. At age 54, she passed away after only 4 weeks of getting a diagnosis of colon cancer. Four weeks! Never got to enjoy one single day of her earned retirement... 
I say, you've earned your retirement, enjoy it and don't look back! You've done the best you can under difficult circumstances (your health and a jerk-off principal who probably has a jerk-off Superintendent), and you have nothing to regret in making your decision. Well done! 
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eastham
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Nov 17 @ 10:54AM
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For all the kudos that Mayor Blumberg is receiving, his approach to education is even worse than the weekly lesson plan. A friend of mine taught in Brooklyn at the high school level. Returning to work after a several year time-out period to have her two children, she was stunned at the change. The lesson plan is in 15 minute increments. You deviate at your peril. She was written up for allowing a student, who had raised his hand, to ask a clarifying question. Apparently Q&A was for the 2nd 15 minutes.
Parents turn off your televisions and computers. Allowing children to watch lots of television, even so-called educational videos, at an early age contributes to a greatly reduced attention span. It also can impede the growth of vocabulary as there is often too much repetition. A little bit of Sesame Street or a little bit of another educational program isn't bad, its the long-term usage most kids are exposed to these days.
And lastly a point which you do not address -- our addiction to standardized testing. No Child Left Behind was little more than a cash cow for those companies who manufacture standardized tests. Children are no longer taught critical thinking skills, they are crammed with the answers to standardized tests. It's disgusting.
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mystery2u888
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Nov 17 @ 8:11PM
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Happy Retirement Sign, best wishes for you .........your fabulous always 
xoxo
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