Cribbage classmates...

From: Steve MacKenzie: All the other stuff

By Steve MacKenzie

Article Date: Saturday, December 8, 2007
There was a letter posted in the teacher's room recently reminding anyone considering retiring at the end of this school year to submit a letter of intent by Dec. 1. Over my lifetime I have known a lot of teachers who have retired, many of them early. I've always found it interesting that few retired because of the kids. No, they have, by their own admission, retired because of meetings and committees and study groups and new initiatives and programs and workshops and staff development, and IEP meetings and parent conferences and . . . Well, you get the idea; they didn't retire because they were tired of the kids, but because they were tired of all the other stuff they were "invited" to do.

This week I had Curriculum Council after school on Monday, my own department meeting after school on Tuesday, my PBIS Targeted Team meeting after school on Wednesday. Next week it is the Leadership Team on Tuesday followed by an association meeting. The next week it's a faculty meeting on Tuesday, Targeted Team again on Wednesday, an IEP meeting on Thursday, and it goes on and on.

This coming Friday I have to miss all of my classes to attend a PLATO training workshop. Now you might think, what the heck, so he's got to attend a workshop-he doesn't have to attend classes that day! While that is true it will take me at least an hour to write up sub plans. And even after I've done a detailed set of sub plans and laid out all the required materials, I still spend half the time I'm away from my classes worrying about being away from my classes.

Now don't misunderstand me-I'm not whining; I'm simply stating the reality of a teacher's life. And I have it easier than many, since I only have a half-time contract, which means I only work a half year. But that's not even really true, because while I'm gone for a little over half of second semester I'm still the department head so I am working electronically off and on during the entire three-month absence, and then I get home just in time to dive into the scheduling and course assignment process for the next year. So while I only have a teaching load for half the year I'm still working.

Several years ago my high school went through the accreditation process. We spent over two years preparing for it. One of the few things we were called down on was our dropout rate. As a result I devoted my next three-year staff development cycle to finding ways to reduce our dropout rate. I spent several hundred hours working toward that goal.

My first year at Somersworth the NH Department of Education (DOE) had just adopted the New Hampshire frameworks as the new curriculum guidelines and we spent many, many hours aligning our curriculum to those Frameworks. Within a very few years the DOE had drafted the Grade-Span Expectations (GSEs) and English departments across the state shifted their alignments to the GSEs. My district, at the recommendation of our Assistant Superintendent in charge of curriculum, asked us to reformat the GSEs into a more user friendly document. We did that. Less than two years later the DOE has mandated that all NH high schools have competencies in place for every course they offer by the beginning of the 2008/2009 academic year. These competencies are being aligned to the GSEs, our schoolwide expectations (mandated by the New England Association accreditation committee), and Competency Based Performance Standards. My department is a little over half done. I have a reasonable hope that we will make the deadline, though many districts likely will not. When we're done we will have several hundred hours invested in the process!

Are you beginning to see why many educators opt for early retirement? I can and I'm only fifty, with eleven years in teaching! The six-and-a-half hours a day in the classroom? Shoot, that's the easy part. My department is already wondering what the next initiative will be, when it will arrive, and how many hours, weeks, or months we will have to devote to it! Early retirement? I'll admit I've thought about it.

But another initiative is not what arrived next, it was an Email from Melissa, a member of the class of 2000, asking me if I would be willing to play the organ at her marriage to JJ, a member of the class of 2001. How cool is that? And that got me to thinking about some of the other "invitations" I've had. Christine (class of 2001) invited me one afternoon to visit the grave of a deceased classmate, Casey Walters, where we shared quiet time and a few tears. Tom (class of 1999) almost always asks me to breakfast or lunch when he's home.

Curtis (class of 2007) invites me skiing every year. Kevin (class of 2001) invited me to a concert at UNH. Alexis (class of 2002) invited me to her dance recital. Seth (class of 1998) invited me to his house for dinner-he cooked! Steven (class of 2009) invites me to play Cribbage during lunch regularly!
I have been invited to high school and college graduation parties, restaurants, frat houses, Christmas and New Year's Eve parties, and "the barn." I've attended everything from funerals to Eagle Scout Courts of Honor to the birth of a calf to a special service at the Jehovah's Witness Kingdom Hall. Students and former students have invited me to go skiing, swimming, fishing, Christmas Caroling, and sky diving.

Early retirement . . .all the "other stuff" . . . hum . . . You know, if I have to have all the other stuff to get this stuff-I think I'll keep teaching a while longer.

Steve MacKenzie teaches English at Somersworth High School and can be reached at room217comcast.net.

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