farewell today.
Yesterday was my last day at Noble High School. I found it to be an incredibly difficult and incredibly fast day. I arrived early, around six, to clean the rest of the mess that I had left in the room of the chemistry teacher next door. Left a lot of lead (II) chloride and copper (II) sulfate residues in microspace equipment by virtue of the fact that I have no idea how to properly rinse them. After that, I spent the morning cleaning my room, trying to go about the last of my business.
Now, the rest of my classroom, the stuff that would be in my classroom no matter what, is inside of a few boxes. It's mostly posters with physics-y stuff on it, or my Scottish flags, or my best examples of student work that are portfolio-worthy. It was heartbreaking, to be able to condense my teaching career to this point into a few small boxes, and to be able to cram my curricular achievements into one or two compact discs.
I found that the hardest part, however, was saying goodbye to everyone. It's pretty obvious that I'll be seeing those people again, and that for some, it'll be all too soon. But, I know that I'll never be teaching with those people again, given that I have vowed never to teach in the State of Maine again. (More on that below.) And I told those people in an email that I am moving on to greener pastures for sure, but that they made the Noble pasture green for me. Some of my colleagues were what made education worthwhile for me professionally, if you don't count the students.
My last act in my classroom was the 'screw you, JF' moment that I was longing for. Noble is listed on the site as a member of the Coalition of Essential Schools, but it hasn't paid dues in two years, and Noble is slowly starting to depart from Coalition principles. I am also quite certain that the current administration does not take the Common Principles of the Coalition seriously. So, I placed a poster with those ten Common Principles on my bulletin board, even when bulletin boards need to be clear.
Screw off, Noble High School. Screw off.
Now, I'm prepping for my adult ed Chemistry course and trying to decide what to do with the extra three hours I just gained by really landing balancing equations solidly in 15 minutes last class. I'm working on new apartments, hoping to land in Wilton or Amherst, NH. I'm going to try to tackle packing up some, but I'm not sure how much progress I can make without Shannon there to tell me what to toss and that I should stop being such a packrat. It's sad, but liberating, that I'm moving on. I'm only sad because the time evaporated in front of my eyes, and the two years that I spent at Noble are gone, and I can't get them back and reproduce them. Oh, well.
Now, the rest of my classroom, the stuff that would be in my classroom no matter what, is inside of a few boxes. It's mostly posters with physics-y stuff on it, or my Scottish flags, or my best examples of student work that are portfolio-worthy. It was heartbreaking, to be able to condense my teaching career to this point into a few small boxes, and to be able to cram my curricular achievements into one or two compact discs.
I found that the hardest part, however, was saying goodbye to everyone. It's pretty obvious that I'll be seeing those people again, and that for some, it'll be all too soon. But, I know that I'll never be teaching with those people again, given that I have vowed never to teach in the State of Maine again. (More on that below.) And I told those people in an email that I am moving on to greener pastures for sure, but that they made the Noble pasture green for me. Some of my colleagues were what made education worthwhile for me professionally, if you don't count the students.
My last act in my classroom was the 'screw you, JF' moment that I was longing for. Noble is listed on the site as a member of the Coalition of Essential Schools, but it hasn't paid dues in two years, and Noble is slowly starting to depart from Coalition principles. I am also quite certain that the current administration does not take the Common Principles of the Coalition seriously. So, I placed a poster with those ten Common Principles on my bulletin board, even when bulletin boards need to be clear.
Screw off, Noble High School. Screw off.
Now, I'm prepping for my adult ed Chemistry course and trying to decide what to do with the extra three hours I just gained by really landing balancing equations solidly in 15 minutes last class. I'm working on new apartments, hoping to land in Wilton or Amherst, NH. I'm going to try to tackle packing up some, but I'm not sure how much progress I can make without Shannon there to tell me what to toss and that I should stop being such a packrat. It's sad, but liberating, that I'm moving on. I'm only sad because the time evaporated in front of my eyes, and the two years that I spent at Noble are gone, and I can't get them back and reproduce them. Oh, well.