Work
August 16,2017
My daughter Meredith gave me a book of thought about retirement. It had several exercises to make one evaluate their motives. One question was to list fifteen good things about your job. I couldn’t list fifteen because I never had lunch with that many of my colleagues . It was all about my colleagues.
Among ourselves we were happy. It seemed to be the same within many of the departments. Even as everyone entered faculty meetings they seemed happy but they never left looking happy. Misery came from the top? While I’m reluctant to admit that, over the years of my tenure the faculty lost it’s cohesiveness. The faculty became younger overall and more downtrodden at the same time. It shouldn’t be that way.
Another exercise in the book was what non monetary benefits did your job give you. It used to give me personal challenge through some special projects I did. It gave me a certain status too. I missed the buzz that those projects gave me when they ended.
The IC faculty is one-fifth the size of NHS. Still it is loaded with talent, youth and energy. It is a six period teaching load with multiple preps and a total roster of 80 to 100.
The students are warm. I’ve been surprised how quickly they accepted me. A school tradition is the big/little sister with a beanie capping. Beanies are worn everyday for a week and ends with the Senior/Freshman tea party. This southern sounding event happens on Sunday afternoon. I will follow up.
It does illustrate the fundamental difference between public vs private school. It is a priority for the private school student to form community. Public school students don’t have the same pressure. They simply slog across the street. I started my career in a Catholic high school do this isn’t the first time I’ve witnessed this phenomenon.
I did two workshops on Friday on study skills and a team building exercise with the Freshmen. I also covered a class.
Part of my job is to cover the office when the secretary goes for lunch. As most school secretaries, Sylvia is a superwoman. So yes, I’m in the thick of it.