This week, I have been telling my students that I will be retiring at the end of this month. It's been an end-of-class, many-of-you-already-know, low-key thing. Some responses from the youngest have been funny.
Me to class of first graders: I am going to retire. Do you know what "retire" means?
One first grade girl: Yeah, you've been doing this a long, LONG time and you are SICK of it and are NOT gonna do it any more!
After the substitute, who happened to be a retired teacher, and I finished laughing, I tried to assure them that I am not sick of being a librarian, just ready to do other things.
All week, the short "talk" has gone well. I have not cried, not even a catch in my voice... until today. One of the fourth grade classes came in this morning. Everything was normal until the last minutes of our time together. I was telling them the "I'm going to retire..." thing and one of the boys kept working with the dominoes. He loves making mazes with the dominoes. When I finished talking, he stepped to the side so I could see the table. It is the picture above. P is the first letter of my last name. I lost it. I love my students.
