September 4, 2019

As I look back over the many Septembers of my life, most of them have been associated, in some way, with going back to school. When I was between five years and twenty-one years of age, I was a student. The influence my teachers had on me was immense. The first impressions made at the beginning of the school year caused ripples, if not waves, throughout the term, if not the rest of my school career or even my entire life. Some of the comments that teachers made to me or to my classmates, I remember to this day. With that being said, I want to add that becoming a teacher was something I grew into, rather than choosing as a career. I stored all the positives and negatives in my subconscious and with that information and those emotions as the primary motivators, I moved confidently toward a career in teaching. At no point in time during my twenty-six years of full-time teaching, did I regret my decision. The same forces that guided me into the calling, also guided me out. My decisions were all based on some intuition that told me when I was done, rather than any type of financial savvy at all. With the helpful guidance of my Superintendent, I was finessed to the most positive retirement settlement possible given my personal circumstances. I am now retired sixteen years. I am not wealthy, but I am more than surviving. I have not traveled all over the world, but I did make a trip to England for a family wedding and some grand sightseeing and immersing in the local culture.

My point, and I do have one, is that all those teachers of mine, and my experiences with them, led me to the path I chose. They influenced my interactions with my students and colleagues, they guided me to make the decisions that I made regarding my employment and when to retire.

So, if you are starting the school year at the head of a classroom of impressionable young minds, don’t doubt for a minute that every word that you say will leave an impact of some variety on those you teach. From pre-school through graduate school, you hold their attention and you are helping them to become their future selves.