Our group member Jeanette Borich who wrote that wonderful article on TPRS (link below and a great read) announces her retirement below. We celebrate her career and tenacity!
Hey Ben,
I have happy news! I announced my retirement from 39 years of teaching. They say ya know when it is time to go, and now I see that is true. Attached is the letter I wrote to my colleagues. I thought you might enjoy reading it.
But, I plan to continue teaching! I am going to teach adults Spanish and French, if possible. I am not sure what that will look like, but I am excited. The extra money I earn is going toward the professional development that I want — including travel!
Recently, in reflecting upon my recent work at my school district, it has become clear to me that the grammar teachers out there are the reason I cannot and likely would never be able to really teach the way that helps my students be successful. There was a period of time fairly recently in my district that I felt safe speaking out about teaching with comprehensible input, but at the moment that feeling has disappeared. I have noticed this year that my building colleagues increasingly feel the same way too—they are really pushing the grammar knowledge with worksheets again. I have not gone there, but I know why they do it. It is because my building colleagues feel the heat from the high school teachers who want kids to be able to conjugate verbs.
That is not why I am leaving at this point in time—a whole bunch of reasons including health insurance availability—have influenced my decision. Knowing that now I will have complete freedom to use the strategies that will help learners succeed makes leaving a sweet thought indeed. Not having to sit through endless PD hours in my district that put me in the same classroom as the beginning teacher is another sweet thought. Being able to feel safe about speaking my mind is another sweet thought. The list of sweet thoughts could go on for quite while.
Jeanette
Here is a link to that article Jeanette wrote, which is also on the Primers hard link:
http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2012/04/02/tln_borich.html?tkn=VTODjE%2B%2F3VKF%2BVqAF6OflgthfTgIt1M%2FmmET&intc=es