(no subject)
KIM: How long have you been teaching at PHS Mr. Rettig??
RETTIG: I believe this is my 18th year at PHS. All of my years here I taught IB classes. Some years I had one or two non IB classes, but most were IB.
KIM: Did you ever teach Murray, Jones, or Beliech?
RETTIG: Mr. Murray, Mr. Jones, and Mr. Beliech were all my students at one point, yes.
KIM: Which one was the best?
RETTIG: All three were exceptional students, although their personalities were considerably different. Their personalities today are indicative of that. I had been warned by other teachers what a problem Mr. Murray was (laughs). By the time I had him he was a good student, with a keen intellect. People change during high school. People mature, intellect takes hold.
KIM: So teachers talk about their students a lot?
RETTIG: Probably not as much as students think. Mrs. Wagg, Mr. Bullington and I talk occasionally talk, mostly about politics and current issues.
>>ALLIE: So what are you guys like BFFS [best friends forever]?
RETTIG: Well yes I suppose, I mean we might get together every once in a while after we retire. You know for the occasional pancake dinner, [laughs] who knows.
KIM: What do you enjoy most about teaching?
RETTIG: I enjoy most the time in the classroom. I enjoy least aspects that don’t involve students. I’ll keep those aspects veiled. Hopefully I get students to think analytically about history. In AP classes it’s difficult to teach in time for the exam. When I taught honors history I tried to have more current events. History often isn’t the most interesting subject to young people. Students are more interested in their personal lives. However I hear from adults that history helped them later on in life.
KIM: What about the rumors that next year for you, as well as the last year for Mr. Bullington and Mrs. Wagg
RETTIG: Well it’s complicated. She [Mrs. Wagg] was here before IB was even created, she’s been here as she calls it “forever”. Mr. Bullington came here for the first year of the IB program. We are friends. We’ve shared many things in the attempt to build a quality IB program. Mr. Bullington has finished 5 years of the delayed retirement program two years ago. His coming back each year is determined by the school administration, although there’s no reason they wouldn’t accept him again. Both Mrs. Wagg and I are in our 4th years of delayed retirement. We both plan to come back next year. I can’t speak for her after that, although I don’t think she intends to come back after next year. I’m not sure if I’ll continue after next year or not a lot depends on how I feel at the time.
KIM: How long do you have to teach before you’re eligible for retirement?
RETTIG: You have to teach 30 years, next year will be my 30th year. Once you have taught for 30 yeas you can retire at half your salary, which is obviously not that much. The drop program helps us go on at a salary we can live on. What would I do with my time if I retire you know? I like tennis, but I can’t play tennis all day. It’s hard on the body. I like to travel, but I can’t afford to travel all the time. I have to think about what’s most important to me. I won’t poll the students [about whether or not he should retire] because I’m afraid of what I would get back! Especially after I snapped at Allie today [laughs].
>>ALLIE: It’s all good Mr. Rettig. We’re cool.
KIM: What do you plan on doing after you retire?
RETTIG: I have a grandson who’s two. My wife and I have great time taking care of him. I want to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. I like tennis, and reading. My wife and I like to travel.
KIM: What do you like to read?
RETTIG: I don’t have much time to read, the only thing I read are student essays. I like historical fiction, and non fiction is it’s written well. I look at the best seller list, what friends recommend. That’s something I really look forward to, having time to read more.
KIM: Have you ever taught anything besides history?
RETTIG: I was hired to teach AP U.S. History. I knew I would be teaching IB Psychology. You see back then students have a choice between IB Psychology and Geography. They eventually dropped psychology and pushed me into U.S. history only. I’ve also taught inquiry skills here. In the 17 years I spent at Tate I taught everything in social studies. I actually help to start the AP program at Tate. I encouraged the students to take AP courses. It was easier for them to have 1 or 2 difficult classes instead of many difficult classes that some students here have.
KIM: What’s one of your favorite or funniest moments in teaching?
RETTIG: Some of the funnier moments stem from the experiments I used to conduct when I taught psychology. We used to do experiments to create interest in the subject. I would make an excuse to leave the room, like I had to copy papers or something, and I would put on a variety of things to make my appearance standout. I would come back to the classroom, knock on the door and go back in. I would then do a variety of things, some of them a little nonsensical, this usually lasted for about 30 seconds. When I went back again I told people to write a description of what just happened. It was humorous to see the variety of things people wrote down, most of it was wrong. This experiment was to demonstrate the inaccuracy of eyewitness accounts. When I put people into groups to come up with a description of what happened the group account was often more accurate *than individual ones. I remember one year a student in front knew karate, and he thought someone was coming in the class to attack and he got into an attack stance, but stopped when he realized it was an experiment. I couldn’t do that today because of liability; maybe I was wrong in doing it maybe not.
KIM: What about your early teaching experiences?
RETTIG: Some of my strongest memories are teaching 3rd grade P.E. It was my 2nd year of teaching, and I was 22 years old. It was my old school that I was returning to teach at; a rural school. At the time it was during desegregation, and I have some stories that are funny and some that are tragic. Many stories would be quite lengthy to tell. They mostly had to do with segregation issues. There was something called the presidential fitness test that we gave to the students, and the county decided to have a competition. We actually did quite well; we even beat some high schools. The kids were very proud and happy. With little kids you get a lot of feedback. If they like something or don’t like something you’re going to know right away. It’s different with high-schoolers they are more reserved.
>>ALLIE: I’ve heard you describe yourself as a Yankee, or northerner where are you from? When did you come down south?
RETTIG: Well I came here when I was about 8 years old from Ohio, it was quite different here. The teacher even introduced me as “The Boy From Ohio”. At recess the other children chased me around.
KIM: [aghast] Whoah, did you get hurt?
RETTIG: No actually, I outran them.
KIM/ALLIE: That’s good.
RETTIG: I believe this is my 18th year at PHS. All of my years here I taught IB classes. Some years I had one or two non IB classes, but most were IB.
KIM: Did you ever teach Murray, Jones, or Beliech?
RETTIG: Mr. Murray, Mr. Jones, and Mr. Beliech were all my students at one point, yes.
KIM: Which one was the best?
RETTIG: All three were exceptional students, although their personalities were considerably different. Their personalities today are indicative of that. I had been warned by other teachers what a problem Mr. Murray was (laughs). By the time I had him he was a good student, with a keen intellect. People change during high school. People mature, intellect takes hold.
KIM: So teachers talk about their students a lot?
RETTIG: Probably not as much as students think. Mrs. Wagg, Mr. Bullington and I talk occasionally talk, mostly about politics and current issues.
>>ALLIE: So what are you guys like BFFS [best friends forever]?
RETTIG: Well yes I suppose, I mean we might get together every once in a while after we retire. You know for the occasional pancake dinner, [laughs] who knows.
KIM: What do you enjoy most about teaching?
RETTIG: I enjoy most the time in the classroom. I enjoy least aspects that don’t involve students. I’ll keep those aspects veiled. Hopefully I get students to think analytically about history. In AP classes it’s difficult to teach in time for the exam. When I taught honors history I tried to have more current events. History often isn’t the most interesting subject to young people. Students are more interested in their personal lives. However I hear from adults that history helped them later on in life.
KIM: What about the rumors that next year for you, as well as the last year for Mr. Bullington and Mrs. Wagg
RETTIG: Well it’s complicated. She [Mrs. Wagg] was here before IB was even created, she’s been here as she calls it “forever”. Mr. Bullington came here for the first year of the IB program. We are friends. We’ve shared many things in the attempt to build a quality IB program. Mr. Bullington has finished 5 years of the delayed retirement program two years ago. His coming back each year is determined by the school administration, although there’s no reason they wouldn’t accept him again. Both Mrs. Wagg and I are in our 4th years of delayed retirement. We both plan to come back next year. I can’t speak for her after that, although I don’t think she intends to come back after next year. I’m not sure if I’ll continue after next year or not a lot depends on how I feel at the time.
KIM: How long do you have to teach before you’re eligible for retirement?
RETTIG: You have to teach 30 years, next year will be my 30th year. Once you have taught for 30 yeas you can retire at half your salary, which is obviously not that much. The drop program helps us go on at a salary we can live on. What would I do with my time if I retire you know? I like tennis, but I can’t play tennis all day. It’s hard on the body. I like to travel, but I can’t afford to travel all the time. I have to think about what’s most important to me. I won’t poll the students [about whether or not he should retire] because I’m afraid of what I would get back! Especially after I snapped at Allie today [laughs].
>>ALLIE: It’s all good Mr. Rettig. We’re cool.
KIM: What do you plan on doing after you retire?
RETTIG: I have a grandson who’s two. My wife and I have great time taking care of him. I want to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. I like tennis, and reading. My wife and I like to travel.
KIM: What do you like to read?
RETTIG: I don’t have much time to read, the only thing I read are student essays. I like historical fiction, and non fiction is it’s written well. I look at the best seller list, what friends recommend. That’s something I really look forward to, having time to read more.
KIM: Have you ever taught anything besides history?
RETTIG: I was hired to teach AP U.S. History. I knew I would be teaching IB Psychology. You see back then students have a choice between IB Psychology and Geography. They eventually dropped psychology and pushed me into U.S. history only. I’ve also taught inquiry skills here. In the 17 years I spent at Tate I taught everything in social studies. I actually help to start the AP program at Tate. I encouraged the students to take AP courses. It was easier for them to have 1 or 2 difficult classes instead of many difficult classes that some students here have.
KIM: What’s one of your favorite or funniest moments in teaching?
RETTIG: Some of the funnier moments stem from the experiments I used to conduct when I taught psychology. We used to do experiments to create interest in the subject. I would make an excuse to leave the room, like I had to copy papers or something, and I would put on a variety of things to make my appearance standout. I would come back to the classroom, knock on the door and go back in. I would then do a variety of things, some of them a little nonsensical, this usually lasted for about 30 seconds. When I went back again I told people to write a description of what just happened. It was humorous to see the variety of things people wrote down, most of it was wrong. This experiment was to demonstrate the inaccuracy of eyewitness accounts. When I put people into groups to come up with a description of what happened the group account was often more accurate *than individual ones. I remember one year a student in front knew karate, and he thought someone was coming in the class to attack and he got into an attack stance, but stopped when he realized it was an experiment. I couldn’t do that today because of liability; maybe I was wrong in doing it maybe not.
KIM: What about your early teaching experiences?
RETTIG: Some of my strongest memories are teaching 3rd grade P.E. It was my 2nd year of teaching, and I was 22 years old. It was my old school that I was returning to teach at; a rural school. At the time it was during desegregation, and I have some stories that are funny and some that are tragic. Many stories would be quite lengthy to tell. They mostly had to do with segregation issues. There was something called the presidential fitness test that we gave to the students, and the county decided to have a competition. We actually did quite well; we even beat some high schools. The kids were very proud and happy. With little kids you get a lot of feedback. If they like something or don’t like something you’re going to know right away. It’s different with high-schoolers they are more reserved.
>>ALLIE: I’ve heard you describe yourself as a Yankee, or northerner where are you from? When did you come down south?
RETTIG: Well I came here when I was about 8 years old from Ohio, it was quite different here. The teacher even introduced me as “The Boy From Ohio”. At recess the other children chased me around.
KIM: [aghast] Whoah, did you get hurt?
RETTIG: No actually, I outran them.
KIM/ALLIE: That’s good.