for my students

This picture has a lot of me in it--- a dog and a teacher's desk. Both are lifelong loves of mine. I have always been a teacher. Even as a child it was my favorite game and it is and has been my profession for countless years. I have taught while I raised a family, helped run a pizza place and written for three local newspapers. But teaching has always been number 1 after my girls. It is how I define myself and I like to think those years behind the desk have mattered.

Recently, I have been leading some memoir workshops. That is really a pleasant teaching moment as I watch others begin to share their story. Also at the present a memoir is my work in progress. Digging up the stories of my family and putting them down for my girls and their families to share. Not easy to organize or to write at times but rewarding in the end. Also I am about to begin work with John Lopez on putting together a coffee table book featuring his sculptures and the stories behind them. What an honor to have an ex-student ask me to share in this production.It is such a reward for being behind the desk, and he may never realize how much it means to me.

When I joined Facebook, I thought of it as a way to contact family. It is less family than I hoped ( Most of my family is not computer savvy ,I guess), but within hours ex- students began to contact me. My friend list is full of them.Some I expected as we had connected in the classroom ,but some of the others are ones I thought I had just taught. Now I share their family photos. funny posts and a bit of their lives as they share mine. Little did I realize they would remember me and remember me well enough to be willing to keep in touch this way.

So as I contemplate this year and maybe one more year before I venture into new territory of semi retirement( will still teach at college and do other things.), my heart is full of the fact that I have touched lives in a positive way. It makes all the late nights of planning, grading, catchup reading, all the debate trips, all the play practices, all the cheerleading wrestling trips, the stupid questions, and yes. even the smart a*** answers that make teaching a time sucking career worth the effort. Thank you John, Joanie, Shane, Brain, Abby , Bastian. Caytlin, Kylee, Abby,Amber, Chelle,Dakota and all the others as well as ones I will be teaching this year It has been worth it.