Countdown to the End: Day 11

My replacement was hired today. She is graduating from Iowa State on Saturday. When I’m asked about her I don’t have a lot to say good or bad because now she is hired and I’m officially done. My students are the most curious; what does she look like? Is she young? Where did she go to school? Will she be here the last day of school to meet us and teach us? To all of these answers I say what does it matter. Students hate when I say that, but I don’t want them to have an opinion of her before they even meet her. She will be good. I was fresh out of Iowa State when I started, and everyone has to start somewhere. I just keep thinking that I started teaching when I was 21. I was so young, and I’m not even 30 and I’m making a career change. I’ve talked to other teachers about counting down to retirement, and some of them haven’t made a school change or career change ever. They graduated college, started teaching, and 30 years later they are counting down to retirement. Many say it’s the state retirement benefits that are keeping them going. That is one thing that I am sad to see go, IPERS.

Hanging baskets made by the students,
and the pictures used for their flyers

I sent out an email to everyone in the district announcing the greenhouse hours and an advertisement flyer that the students made. The greenhouse is open until 4pm daily. I ended up staying here until 5pm. I was glad to see the plants go. The more that are gone the less we have to take care, and the closer we are to making the break even goal. We picked some of the tomatoes from the hydroponic system. My Horticulture class was able to eat them today. That was a nice treat.

I decided to keep a countdown log to remember what it was like to end a career, but now I find it to be depressing. I’m not sure if it’s the countdown or the negative effect of leaving. Lately when I leave school I try to just forget what happened, so I don’t stress out about the days activities. Keeping the log makes me think more critically of the days events. The closer we get to the end the more I’m saddened to be leaving. I really don’t want to be so negative. It seems like the last couple of days my outlook on school has been very negative. I usually try to be positive.

I know I made the right decision because I won’t have to follow a teacher dress code, or try to follow a teacher dress code.