A desperate plea to save me from the third graders!
I’m sort of joking with this post, but I may have mentioned that I retired from teaching in June. The pressure to use AI and to encourage my students to use it played a part in my decision to step away at 62. Well, now we have moved to a new town in Florida, and I want to work just part time. So, I noticed that less than a mile from our home is a school!
You can call me a sucker for this, but I applied to be a substitute teacher. This is very different that being a full time teacher. With no homework, parent emails, or before and after-school meetings, it looked much easier.
I applied, got hired, and just completed my first three days. During my career I taught high school and middle school, but for the past three days, I was one of three teachers working with 50 third graders. Fifty. Five zero, and I - am -exhausted.
Now I have a decision to make. Continue subbing or work part-time somewhere else. There is also a new Costco less that a mile away, and I could apply there. Being with the third graders was chaotic. They were, fidgety, and emotional. By the end of the first day, I was ready to give it up. Costco was calling, but I decided to give it a second day.
It was much the same, but I started to get to know the kids and enjoyed helping them. But still, it was crazy and loud, and I was expecting retirement to be relaxing. Fifty eight year olds are not relaxing.
So I went back today, and I am tired. Handing out samples at Costco just seems very mellow, at least compared to subbing, but today I really enjoyed working one-on-one with some of the students.
While thinking about all this today, I remembered a scene from the film, “Godfather Part 3.” <iframe width="462" height="822" src="
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Seriously though, as much as I enjoy teaching, I just don’t want to do it as much any longer. A few days a week will be plenty. That will give me time to work on this newsletter, something I care about a great deal. I really am concerned about AI and hope people will slow down a bit and develop it more responsibly.
So please save me from the third graders and consider supporting this newsletter with a paid subscription. I’ve set the price to $5 a month or just $30 a year. More paid subscriptions will ensure I am able to continue to try to improve the newsletter. More paid subscriptions will mean I won’t have to substitute so much. Two days a week sounds about right. Any more, and I just don’t know. I mean, what if they have me substitute for kindergartners! Please save me from that.
Thanks,
Think for yourself.
Don’t be a sheep.