Thursday, February 29th – It was on this day last week that I ended one chapter in my life. A somewhat somber chapter in which two people thought they had found someone that they’d be spending the rest of their lives with, but such was not to be. Last Thursday marked the official end of that saga. Tomorrow a new adventure is set to begin.
Just before winter break, the principal of the school I had worked at approached me about taking an interim position. Although at that point he wasn’t able to tell me who the teacher was, he did say it was a language arts position. The teacher that was at that point leading the class had decided to retire on March 1st of this year. I did some research on my own and was able to find out who the teacher was and at that point agreed to fill the position until the end of the school year.
Tomorrow is my first day as the teacher of record for a seventh grade language arts class. I will be working with three other teachers, one of whom is a teacher I worked with my last full year of teaching. The teacher whose place I’m taking was another teacher I had worked with during that time.
For most of my twenty-nine year full time career, I taught math and science. I have done over twenty interim positions since my 2010 retirement and most all of those have been either math or science. So I guess one can say that this subject matter is a bit out of my comfort zone, but I’m up to the challenge.
I will have to say that I had grown used to just working two or three days a week. This job will require that I work an average of four days a week and that will take some getting used to. Tonight as I shower and shave and ready tomorrow’s wardrobe, I’m filled with a few butterflies. It’s the usual beginning-of-the-year butterflies that I had grown used to, but these are in flight 3/4 the way through the school year.
There will be a period of adjustment for both myself and the students. They are more used to the routine than I am. And I’m sure they’ve grown accustomed to the ways of the teacher they’ve had since the start of the school. But adjustment and change are a part of each of our life stories and I’m sure we’ll be just fine.
Another chapter,,,,another adventure awaits. The previous sights in the rearview grow smaller each day.
David Lee
David Lee 