(Originally posted on January 22, 2012)
This is the magical year, where my age (will be 58...OMG!!!) in May and and years teaching (22 years) added together will equal 80 - the magical number which will allow me to retire if I choose to. (For those younger than me, or haven't been teaching as long, my magic number is "grandfathered" while your magic number will be 90...sorry!)
My first career was in Savings & Loan accounting...I spent 17 years doing that. How that came to be...I had summer jobs at First Federal of Miami thanks to my step-mom, Dottie. When my fragile family life went to hell my senior year of high school (another story, sometime...), I suddenly found myself needing a fulltime job and no chance to go to college. And that was a shame - I graduated 26th in my class of 933 at Miami Coral Park, but had no way to pay for college, even if I went to Miami-Dade CC. So, I began my career in S&L accounting. Then I met Phil and after two years of dating we married, he graduated from UM as a geophysicist, and Shell Oil moved us to Houston.
I eventually found a job in accounting at Houston First Savings, and later Commonwealth Savings, working my way up to assistant vice-president. Not bad, considering I had no college degree. I did manage to take classes off and on, at Houston Community College and at the University of Houston, but when I got divorced in 1984 and took stock of my life, I realized I had not completed my degree in accounting because I did not want to be an accountant for the rest of my life! There I was, a non-degreed accountant, training guys with MBAs to be my boss. I made good money and enjoyed most of my job at that point, which was training accountants in data processing and vice versa, but realized I would not be able to rise any further without a degree. What did I REALLY want to do with my life??
I decided to become a teacher. I had enjoyed teaching others throughout my career and thought I could put my skills to use in the classroom, so I finally finished my degree at UH and began teaching in CFISD. My first couple of years were rough...not only was it a complete change in mind-set for me, but I also began my new career pregnant (Shannon was born in the middle of my first year teaching) and I was working at one of the toughest schools in my suburban district.
For ten years I taught math, science, and social studies and felt I did a pretty good job. When I was asked my one of my parents, an elementary principal, to join her at a new elementary school she was opening, I jumped at the chance. When she told me I could teach whatever I wanted, I chose 4th grade GT reading, language arts, and social studies. Pretty funny! I had never taught 4th grade, or reading, or language arts, and here I was, jumping into the thick of it!! Well, I learned a lot at that school but a few years later when I was asked to interview at Hamilton for the same position, I knew I had found my home.
Not only was my drive down to just two minutes, but I was now teaching at the best elementary school in the district! What an honor to be here! I worked with some great teachers and was lucky enough to become good friends with fellow teacher Mary Bardwell. We had similar beliefs about teaching and similar teaching styles, we planned together well and shared everything we did. Our administrators left us alone because they knew we were doing a great job. Our students learned a lot and enjoyed our classes. I knew this would be the school I would retire from.
My first career was in Savings & Loan accounting...I spent 17 years doing that. How that came to be...I had summer jobs at First Federal of Miami thanks to my step-mom, Dottie. When my fragile family life went to hell my senior year of high school (another story, sometime...), I suddenly found myself needing a fulltime job and no chance to go to college. And that was a shame - I graduated 26th in my class of 933 at Miami Coral Park, but had no way to pay for college, even if I went to Miami-Dade CC. So, I began my career in S&L accounting. Then I met Phil and after two years of dating we married, he graduated from UM as a geophysicist, and Shell Oil moved us to Houston.
I eventually found a job in accounting at Houston First Savings, and later Commonwealth Savings, working my way up to assistant vice-president. Not bad, considering I had no college degree. I did manage to take classes off and on, at Houston Community College and at the University of Houston, but when I got divorced in 1984 and took stock of my life, I realized I had not completed my degree in accounting because I did not want to be an accountant for the rest of my life! There I was, a non-degreed accountant, training guys with MBAs to be my boss. I made good money and enjoyed most of my job at that point, which was training accountants in data processing and vice versa, but realized I would not be able to rise any further without a degree. What did I REALLY want to do with my life??
I decided to become a teacher. I had enjoyed teaching others throughout my career and thought I could put my skills to use in the classroom, so I finally finished my degree at UH and began teaching in CFISD. My first couple of years were rough...not only was it a complete change in mind-set for me, but I also began my new career pregnant (Shannon was born in the middle of my first year teaching) and I was working at one of the toughest schools in my suburban district.
For ten years I taught math, science, and social studies and felt I did a pretty good job. When I was asked my one of my parents, an elementary principal, to join her at a new elementary school she was opening, I jumped at the chance. When she told me I could teach whatever I wanted, I chose 4th grade GT reading, language arts, and social studies. Pretty funny! I had never taught 4th grade, or reading, or language arts, and here I was, jumping into the thick of it!! Well, I learned a lot at that school but a few years later when I was asked to interview at Hamilton for the same position, I knew I had found my home.
Not only was my drive down to just two minutes, but I was now teaching at the best elementary school in the district! What an honor to be here! I worked with some great teachers and was lucky enough to become good friends with fellow teacher Mary Bardwell. We had similar beliefs about teaching and similar teaching styles, we planned together well and shared everything we did. Our administrators left us alone because they knew we were doing a great job. Our students learned a lot and enjoyed our classes. I knew this would be the school I would retire from.
* * * * *
(The next part of the original blog entry has been removed for now. My stupidity in not having tighter privacy controls was my undoing. "Someone" found my blog and in particular, this entry; it was turned in and I received a written reprimand as it was determined I was in violation of the "Employee Standards of Conduct" because this entry "incorrectly depicts..." and "negatively...affects" and "can be offensive..." I naively thought my blog was private and that the few who knew about it were supportive friends. Wrong on both counts. Now you have to be approved - by me only - to be able to read this, and I have not only deleted but actually blocked people from accessing my FB pages even though my blog link no longer exists. I am saddened that my own personal thoughts and feelings have caused such a firestorm when truly all of what I have removed was no more than what was discussed by many on a regular basis...just no one was brave enough to put any of it in writing. I am saddened that my friends are told to not comment on anything I say on FB lest they too become associated with my "problems." However, I am heartened by the outpouring of support from friends who believe in free speech and from parents of former students who remember and recognize that I am/was a great teacher. Yes, what I wrote was my honest, truthful, and bold point of view, but because I am employed as an educator, I am not allowed to freely express my honest, truthful, bold point of view without repercussion. I am a writing teacher; I was told my blog WAS well-written, but extremely inappropriate. So for now I suppose I will limit myself to more mundane musings rather than the state of my job...but it won't be that way forever, I promise!)
* * * * *
Retirement is looking pretty good.
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