I have just decided that this year will be my last as a teacher. I've taught high school English for 29 years now and have loved my work. When working on a book last year, I realized that I've taught more than 3000 teenagers in my life. Sometimes as I was writing, the room would be filled with the images of these kids who enter my life for a year then move on. None of us leaves unchanged.
I want to stop teaching when it will still make my students and me sad that I'm going. I've known teachers who stay too long, some of them great teachers who become parodies of what they used to be. Without question, last year was the best year for me (and my students tell me for many of them as well). This year has started out beautifully--I've changed some of the lessons I teach, but many are what I call my "greatest hit"--units of study that work to help kids improve their reading, writing, and thinking skills. I've decided to try to write every day about what happens in my classroom. It will be a fitting farewell to a profession I love and could be useful to other teachers as they tackle this most difficult and rewarding career.
