One of the Best Parts of Being a Teacher

I used to say the best 3 things about teaching are - June - July - and August.

Last night I spent the evening with one of my first students. Louie Michalik was in my first class at Panther Valley in 1970. He and his lovely wife Carol are living the good life in Dunedin, Florida. I recall Louie being a star on Panther Valley's first golf team and now he lives in a beautiful home on the Dunedin Country Club Golf Course.

One of the worst parts about being a retired teacher - is the forgetfulness that old age brings with it. Things like forgeting your camera in the hotel room on an evening full of "Kodak" moments. Also - spending a lovely dinner watching the sun set over the sponge boats at Tarpon Springs with Louie and Carol - and then forgeting Carol's name - especially when she has such an impressive job as the public relations director of the Tampa Office of the FBI - yes - that FBI.

It was so much fun remembering when I was a 6 feet nothin' and 100 pounds nothin' skinny little kid teaching physics to kids 4 years younger and about 50 pounds heavier than me. To think that I had girls in my classes older than Nancy. It is a wonder how I ever made it through 33 years. We re-called many of the happy moments and silly things - like protesting in front of the high school when someone burned down the junior high school. Also how we ate lunch in the classroom "brown bag" and then turned 600 kids loose in the auditorium unsupervised for 30 minutes - all sugared up.

But visiting Louie and Carol in Florida - makes it all worth it. If one has to work - the gig I had in Panther Valley was a pretty good one. No wonder I spent 33 years in the same classroom. It left me worlds to conquer after 3 pm.

We have spent the last three days at a conference sponsored by the Florida Education Association. Nancy is over 100 miles from home - so she is an expert here. When we sit down at lunch and get to talk about teaching conditions with today's teachers and discuss - pensions - sabbaticals - medical insurance - class size - student turnover - teacher turnover - I feel honored and proud of my noble career at PVJ.

A night like last night is one of the best things about being a teacher. There are about 4000 stories out there just like that.