Why I Retired from Teaching

For the first 20 or so years of my teaching career, whenever someone asked me when I was planning on retiring, my standard answer was: "Probably never. One day my students will come in and see me slumped over my desk. They'll argue with each other, trying to decide whether or not to try and wake me, or wonder if they should tell the principal, or if they should just enjoy the day and let the custodian discover my body after school and alert the proper authorities."

That changed around my 25th year of teaching. I began thinking that I would stay 30 years and collect my full pension. I would still be young (relatively speaking) and I could pursue another profession that did not involve a roomful of children, many of whom were actively engaged in trying to stop me from doing my job. After all, I still had the option of around 12 weeks of vacation time per year. I could teach summer school for 5 four day weeks, which I did for a few years, and earn some extra spendin' cash. I also had enough sick days saved up so that I could take as many as I wanted to take without worrying about running out.

But no, I quit after only 29 years. The proper people were informed back in March. I filled out the proper paperwork - on and off line, was honored at a board meeting, and walked out the door for the final time last Friday.

Why not stick it out one more painful year? Here is the part where I begin to enumerate those reasons-

Well, that's what I was planning on doing. But why bother? Yes, there were issues. Every profession has its issues. What it comes down to is that due to all of the issues - it was time to leave. The school has changed. The profession has changed. Parents and children have changed. Government requirements have changed. I've changed. It was time.

Now that I will have the time, I may even update this blog more frequently.

UPDATE: For more information, go here.

O. Really.

           Why are so many children doing so poorly when learning to read?

            Funny you should ask. But as long as you did, let’s take a quick look at one letter, the letter “o”.

            If we place the “o” after the letter “t” we have the word, “to” (which rhymes with “do” but not with “go”.) Two letters, each making a different sound, create a word. If we add the letter “m” to the end of “to”, we have the word (name), “Tom. The “o” is making a different sound. Add a final silent “e” to create the word, tome, and what do you know? The “o” makes a third sound (the same sound it makes in “go”). What if instead of “m”, we add “ss” for the word “toss”? Yep, a fourth sound. Use the letter “n” instead of “m” and you get the world “ton”, and we’re treated to the schwa sound.  What other words begin with t-o? And what do they sound like? In tow, town, toy, tough, and toil, the “o” is combined with other letters to make various other sounds.

            So what does this all mean?

            First of all, we adults know, there are many more opportunities for the young reading student to become fall into a ball of confusion, especially if they’re expected to figure all of this reading and spelling on their own. This is especially true for children who have been raised in poverty, or in a home where education is ignored or reviled. The child who’s been raised in a literate home has a huge head start in this quest and can sometimes figure this mess out with nominal help.

            For children born into the previously mentioned less than advantageous surroundings, wouldn’t it make more sense to give them a proper phonetic education so that the confusion can be, if not completely eliminated, at least minimized? There are reasons and rules for many (but not all) of the English language’s seeming inconsistencies. Sometimes, as in the case of “ton” it’s due to changing (some would say slovenly) speech patterns. Some are due to specific word origins. A knowledgeable teacher can turn these different sounds and spelling patterns into many “teachable moments” delving into history and literature and increasing student knowledge.

            Very few teachers are taught how. Most teachers are not knowledgeable about the workings of English. They flounder, miss opportunities, try to add a bit of “phonemic awareness”, try some useless interventions, and another generation of illiterates passes through their classroom.

            It’s  time to teach teachers to teach reading correctly, that is, phonetically.