School House Diary: Reflections of a Retired Educator

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It took me quite a time to find the role I wanted, but now I've found it. After 30 years in primary schools and middle schools, I'm now teaching adults. I regret that I can’t remember my students. When they FB friend me, I go to their profiles and try to figure out if I was their sixth grade math teacher or eighth grade language arts teacher or middle school librarian.

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My mother said that there was nothing she misses more than the joy of seeing her students every day. She teared up a little as she explained the memories of 30 years of opening a classroom door and finding those smiling faces lined up outside. There’s nothing like that feeling.With everything going on, (new bathroom to be fitted on 27th) I've a hankering to make a scrappy quilt, dare I?/

Teachers Is It Time to Retire? Finding a Meaningful - Mindful Teachers

If you are a UK-qualified teacher, you may be wondering how to access a digital version of your Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) certificate. The good news is that it is a relatively simple process, and can be done online. After a while, wanting to do something became more important to me. I didn't want the pressure of full time headship or even supply teaching. I wanted to be involved in something else and use my experience and skills, but I didn't want to do what I'd done before.I retired when I did partly because I wanted to answer these and other questions before I died. When I was working, my time and work felt valuable not only because of the relationships I had with staff and students but because other people valued what I did and paid me for it. I was teaching physics in a school where I'd taught for 20 years full time and I got exhausted. I took early retirement when I was 56. I had a term off and I enjoyed it, but I felt restless. When a part time job came up at Royal Hospital School just near my home in Suffolk I decided to apply and got the job. I've been there for nine years and I've no intention of stopping yet. I can’t imagine a more complex and challenging time to think of retiring than today. When I retired from teaching, I felt I was doing what people had done forever. I was 65 and had reached an age where change and slowing down was needed. But now, as I try to empathically feel what a teacher might be experiencing as they contemplate retirement, I’m filled with such contradictory feelings.

Things a Retired Teacher Wants You to Know - WeAreTeachers 10 Things a Retired Teacher Wants You to Know - WeAreTeachers

All of society could benefit from re-conceptualizing retirement, not as a reward for years of hard work, but as important in-itself. We need times in life dedicated to questioning. We need to value elders who teach us about life and aging. We will (hopefully) all retire and get old. If we bury our heads in the sands of youth and not think positively of elders, we will fear aging and thus our lives. We will treat the elderly with disrespect and have years of disrespect waiting for us. How we think of elders is very much how we think about life itself. When Maria Yelle commented on his post, Brittain remembered her right away and posted five pictures of drawings she’d made for him when she was his student in 1986.

And then, according to the Bhagavad Gita, one of the sacred books of India, comes the sannyasin stage, where they become “one who neither hates nor loves.” A sannyasin has found self-realization and can return to the world because everywhere is home, everything is enlightening. I had a 30-year career in the NHS, rising to be a senior health service manager and setting up a stroke unit and spinal clinic. But after Covid, the government wanted me to create as much activity while taking all the money away, and I just ran out of steam. The collaboration and bonds with your fellow teachers are unlike any other professional relationships or friendships you will ever make. Treasure your colleagues “in the trenches” and make every effort to keep in touch with them. The work-home balance theory is just that-a theory. Our generation thought we could have it all. What we found out is that you can have it all, but you just can’t do it all. Something suffers. You, your family or the job. Or all of it. It’s simply impossible to be at the top of your game in the work force, be a fantastic mother/wife and have the time and energy to do it well. I was blessed to be able to choose to be a stay-at-home mom when the work-home balance became too much work. Granted, we had to live on one salary and there are obvious downsides to that, but I made the right choice for our family. I really enjoyed this piece and congratulations to your retiring friends! Reply How can we, when we retire and have less constant stress and time pressure, continue to serve the world?

My Quiet Life in Suffolk: So Many Things Happening - Blogger

A coroner’s report stating the cause of death as acute alcohol intoxication was “the first inkling we had that something wasn’t right,” says Andy, 36. “We knew Peter wasn’t an alcoholic. But what troubles many of us is what will we do with ourselves once we no longer have such a busy life? I noticed this fear myself, but it turned out to be mostly a fear of the unknown speaking. Every retiree I know has told me finding something positive to do was not a problem. I retired at 59 after decades spent working in large science and engineering organisations in the public and private sectors in roles such as CEO and managing director. After college I got a job in a tough school. This was a hard place for a green teacher to land, and I soon suspected I was hired more for my brawn than my brain, when in the first week the principal started sending me girls to paddle.

There are many more resources here at MindfulTeachers.org on mindfulness in schools and self-care for teachers, including the following posts: