Member-only story
My Whole Life is Work
My last year of teaching should have been a joy.
I basically do almost nothing that isn’t work. In my case, almost nothing that isn’t related to teaching. Even when I’m not marking or planning classes, I’m thinking about my 174 students and about how I’m letting them down. Occasionally I think about how exciting it was when I taught something I know nothing about and it went reasonably well.
I am in my last year as a high school teacher. I was hired by my board of education in 1993. In June 2020, I will have reached a factor, calculated on my age and number of years teaching, that will allow me to retire with an unreduced pension.
I am counting down the days until then. I hope I make it without becoming ill.
It should have been a great year. Last year was a great year. I had a total of 120 students, and three different courses to teach. I enjoyed pretty much every minute of it.
I love teaching. I love teenagers. I love teaching English. I especially love teaching senior English, and that’s what I was usually given.
I assumed this year would be the same.
Then there was an election in my district and a conservative government won a majority victory.
