The Last Teaching Post

Well, the grades are all in, the room is shut down, boxes taken home, and keys turned in. It's been an interesting 30.5 years but all things must come to an end so it is time not only for retirement but also to put this blog to bed. I have a new blog called Retired and All That Jazz at http://retiredandallthatjazz.blogspot.com which you all are welcome to visit and bookmark. It will detail the new directions I will be traveling in and I am looking forward to the challenges that await. I definitely want to get back into photography, something I considered as a career years ago. A lot has changed in the intervening years and my old darkroom and 35mm Pentax has been replaced with a digital camera and computer software.

I had to skip the end of the year luncheon today because of a reason I went into in my first post on the new blog. The secretary was shocked and told me that the principal was going to "recognize me", whatever the heck that means. It probably means having the faculty applaud and giving me a gift certificate or some such item. Those who have read my blog in past months know how I feel about retirement accolades. I prefer acknowledging people while they are actively with you rather than patting them on the back to say goodbye. So... I consider what I did during the lunch hour time well spent and do not regret missing the pat on the back. Read my new blog and I think you will understand.

What did I find out by spending more than half of my life teaching? That is a very difficult question to give a coherent answer to. I've already documented most of the highs and lows of my teaching career on this blog so I won't bore you and myself by repeating them. I think the most amazing thing I've discovered is how dedicated the average teacher I worked with is. Every damn day they have challenges thrown at them. They work for a substandard salary and are often asked to accomplish miracles by teaching children under conditions that would send most people screaming out of the room. Teachers rarely receive praise when they accomplish this miracle. They are taken for granted and usually just hear the negative gripes by parents and administrators when things go wrong. They sacrifice their time, their money, their health, and their sanity so their classes can exist in a caring learning environment. They are often given conflicting commands and are expected to carry them out. Teachers are asked to do the impossible and they usually come through. That appreciation is what I value the most and what I will carry with me always. The next time you see a teacher you should hug them and tell them just how valuable they really are to you. They deserve it.

So goodbye to this blog and a fond farewell to my readers. Check out the new blog and you will see what my next steps are.

Graduation and the End of One Phase of Life

We had our senior graduation at the University of North Florida Friday night. I shook hands with a number of former students there, sat through a mercifully short set of speeches, and watched the graduates get their diplomas. Normally I do not care much for symbolism like graduations but this was my last so it had special significance for me. I shared in the joy of the parents and their children at their having passed one of life's hurdles. Now many of the kids will go on to colleges around the country to further their education. A number of them will go to my old masters degree alma mater, the University of Florida.

My room looks disheveled with all of the boxes on the tables. By my count I have 4 boxes of personal things to take home and all the rest will stay with the teacher taking over for me. They will only have one Anatomy class next year because a lot of students dropped the class when they found out I would not be teaching it. I suppose this should make me feel good but it doesn't. I would like to see them taking Anatomy as a gateway to medicine for some and an increased self-knowledge of their bodies for others. I guess the principal may finally appreciate me a little after seeing the class without me there. I only wish I could have gotten the appreciation I earned while I was still there. I guess this is not an uncommon thing. It is human nature to take people for granted until they are gone.

Tomorrow we finish up final exams and I should be all wrapped up except for cleaning out my desk. I think I have a half dozen empty antacid bottles there at least!

A senior student email

This is a nice email I got from one of my last Anatomy students a couple of days ago, with name removed for privacy reasons:

Mr. Albin,
    I wanted to thank you for such a wonderful year. I really loved Anatomy and I can't wait until I am able to use it in the near future. Anatomy has made me more interested in medicine and helped me to decide to go pre-med. it also led to some very interesting discussions between my dad, who is a doctor and I! I'm also going to the Dominican Republic this summer to help out in their hospitals and throughout the villages with doctors so I hope to be able to use everything you have taught me there as well! I also want to praise your teaching style because it was a lot like a college class and I'm sure will benefit me in the next 4 years of college.

Up. Down, and All Around

It's been a strange mixture of emotions during my last 2 weeks as a teacher. On the positive side I had several students come up and thank me for being a great teacher. One girl said that my class was the best class she had ever taken. That is nice to hear and I know a lot of this group will go into some science field and do well.

I began cleaning out drawers today. Though I expected it to be a sad time for some reason I had the feeling I was cutting chains and setting myself free as I tossed items in the trash or gave them away to students. I even gave away my lab coat and name tag. I won't need these things any more. I am keeping enough resource materials to help if I decide to do tutoring or something like that in the future. I also renewed my certificate for another 5 years. Like I tell the kids you always need to keep your options open!

The mood in the science department is the worst I have seen it since Bartram opened. We just got the results of the science FCAT test and it looks like our school score dropped significantly though we all gave FCAT review questions and drill work. It is very sad that our efforts in supporting this test (that doesn't measure academic accomplishment) were wasted. Our school is ranked #4 in the county now in high school science. Teachers are upset because they know that next year there will be increased pressure for them to improve scores when they will have so much going against them, the reduced time in class, mixed student levels in class, reduced funding for supplies, increased class numbers, and an increased number of preps being some of the more serious ones. They are completely demoralized at this point, knowing they will be asked to do the impossible next year in raising science scores under such circumstances. Oh yes, there is the raised temperatures in classes that are currently making the classroom a miserable place to be, all in an effort to save money. The administration has been unusually quiet about helping science teachers to succeed, having basically ignored the unique needs of science teachers when planning for next year. We must have a reasonable amount of time for labs, a cooler room temperature so the kids don't pass out from the heat while conducting experiments, and a reasonable class size so the kids aren't tripping over each other during labs. Surelt the administrators know this but I am certain they have pressure upon them from the superintendent to save money in this financially strapped era. It is curious that the same superintendent is spending a lot of money for a county wide "end-of-the-year" cookout at the St. Augustine Amphitheater basically to promote the county staff with a passing nod at teacher efforts. How can he do this when teachers haven't had a pay increase in several years. I just don't know what is happening to our school. Bartram High has always had one of the best high school science programs but this has definitely slipped recently with the staff reductions and funding restrictions. I believe that the teachers have finally hit a mental and emotional wall. They are asked each year to do more with less and it has reached the point that they can no longer accomplish good teaching under the conditions they face. Next year is not a time that our science teachers are looking forward to. I hate to say it but I am getting out at the very end of the "good school climate, excellent teaching" era. We used to be proud of our efforts and put everything into our teaching. Next year will push the stress levels and the performance demands from the administration to the point that most teachers will probably dread going to school. There will be a continued decline in student accomplishment as a result. Meet the era of "image is everything" and its aftermath! Sad.

So I continue to isolate myself as much as possible from this chaos and wrap up my final year. In a week we will have graduation and the final exams will be completed for all students soon afterwards. I will take packed boxes of stuff to the car and take them home. I will have to leave next year's fiasco to the teachers remaining behind.

What did I get out of the past 30.5 years? A couple of ulcers, migraines, sleepless nights, a meager pension, and the knowledge there are thousands of students out there in science today whom I had a direct and major impact upon. I carry away a good feeling of accomplishment but wonder what the health issues will do to shorten my life. At least I did not collapse and die on the job like a couple of coworkers did. My immediate goal is to finish the year with as much energy and enthusiastic teaching as I can muster. After that my first retirement goal will be to build my health back up through increased rest, exercise, and throwing myself into photography, amateur radio, gardening, astronomy, chess, and animal rescue/adoption, all of them passions of mine I have had to set aside because of the demands of teaching. I may also sit down and write a book about teaching as soon as my sanity and energy return in a month or so. I have so much to look forward to! I only hope that money will not become a major issue, forcing me to return to the workforce. It is now time for me to be creative in other ways and I relish the thought of unleashing my creativity upon these projects and many others. I will miss teaching but my life will be full in other ways. Considering the strife and the other major issues that constantly threaten to decrease my teaching effectiveness, I may find that ultimately teaching may miss me more than I will miss teaching. Oh yes, I plan on skipping the end of the year parties once again. As a vegetarian going to a barbecue dinner has no great appeal to me. I will have to say my goodbyes at school instead and then get out of Dodge one more time. The house of cards I have been teaching in for 10 years is shaking badly and I have no desire to see it fall.

Dad's Army Life

As I watch a series of shows on PBS about the military, put on in honor of Memorial Day, my mind drifts back to dad and his military World War 2 career. Vernon L. Albin joined the 12th Cavalry at Fort Bliss, Texas because his family was poor and he needed to send money to them. The cavalry was disbanded and since dad had an amateur radio license and experience with radio communication he was trained as a radio operator and assigned to Patton's 3rd Army, 16th Cavalry Group, and sent to Europe late in the war.

Dad would talk very little about his experiences but they obviously traumatized him. Through the years he leaked bits of information that gave me a glimpse of this part of his life. Dad spent most of the war there in a jeep or halftrack relaying scouting information to the main body of troops. He told of touring through Buchenwald concentration camp and the piles of bodies. He told of the time he was running across a field towards a U.S. tank and was shot in the knees by a machine gun nest. He talked a little about the bitter cold of the winter in the Saar region. He told me about the time his colonel lined up the men after a battle at Trier, asking them "who stole general Patton's cognac?". (By the way, the missing case was put to good use by his group!) He told how his recon group was the first to enter Germany. He told of his halftrack hitting a mine and how he was blown out of the vehicle and landed in the road 30 yards away. His good friend who was driving suffered severe facial burns then. Dad lay in a hospital and for months the Red Cross would release no information to mom who was frantically trying to find out his condition.

Dad came home with a few items as souvenirs (someone stole the rest from the hospital when they took his duffle bag). He also came home with a severe case of shock to his nervous system that plagued him for years afterwards. His few pitiful items are not much for a person who gave up so much of his life.

Here are dad's thoughts about his war:
1) Junior officers were idiots. He regularly told them off and his rank bounced back and forth as a result.
2) The war was necessary but was a horrible time he would like to forget. He had nightmares about it for the next 30 years.
3) He did not want me to participate in the Vietnam war because he felt it was politically motivated and not needed to help make our country more secure.
4) He had fond memories of his early cavalry life but was bitter towards Patton whom he considered a "horse's rear" who was interested more in glorifying himself than in caring for his troops. Dad saw Patton a couple of times and he said the strutting image of a megalomaniac portrayed by George C. Scott was pretty accurate, right down to the ivory handled revolver.
5) Dad believed in fighting for a national cause but he said that today our wars ask soldiers to die without giving them a valid reason to do so.

His war experiences shaped his life drastically. They helped him to mature and gave him skills he would use after he got out of the army. They also led to occasional mental breakdowns for years after he returned. He struggled with this until after retirement. He also got the gift of trench foot he battled with until his death. What would he think of this current set of wars? He would probably not like the fact we entered into them at all.

All I know is that I miss him terribly when reminded by the celebration of Memorial Day.

Luvey and Elvira

Should Adam Lambert Join Queen?

I've been listening to Adam on American Idol and he has a truly special voice and a confidence that takes over the stage. I think that Queen should snap him up immediately before someone else does. He has the range and stage presence to cover all of their old Freddie material and could collaborate with them to make some of the best music they have ever done. No, Freddie will never be replaced. He was a singer who comes along once in a generation. Adam has his own special qualities that make him a perfect fit with Queen. While they are at it they need to also drag John Deacon out of his self-imposed musical exile and put together a reincarnation of Queen that would blow everyone away. Talk among yourselves.

The Week

Well, I said goodbye to the seniors today as it was their last day before final exams.

One of my former students who is finishing his degree in Biology and is working at a medical lab part time came in to give a presentation to the Biology group. He showed a Powerpoint he made of his activities in the lab, The students started agar plates for specific bacteria and looked at algae used in a research study. They really appreciated this glimpse into the real world of science.

I am relaxing at the end of a busy week teaching. One of the cats just found a way to slip the elastic bands that close the cat food cabinet and is tossing cans onto the floor. I guess it is feeding time!