good year for the first time ever

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Home : 2005 : May : 14

good year for the first time ever
By Carolyn

I have been working with public school children since 1985. I had taught mostly elementary classes until this year. I have logged more years in fifth grade than any other grade level. I switched to Spanish K-5 this year,
and I am also teaching in a great school with wonderful teachers, parents, and administrators. I have to say that it has been the best year ever for me. I have enjoyed the wonderful staff, students, parents, and administrators I have worked with, and I have also enjoyed not spending so much of my free time dong grades, grading tests, making student referrals to guidance, worrying about

end-of-year tests, not having a lunch break, and having to be with the same children all day long. The demands of this new job are much less than they were in the regular classroom. I don't think I ever want to go back to the regular classroom. I greatly admire the true workhorses of the schools--the elementary teachers.

In my case, I did consider a career change many times, and I think this was the best solution for me. I left a school with an 89% poverty index and am now in a school where only a small handful are classified as poor. I'm getting too old to be on a "save the children" mission.