The main reason I am still at this school, have grown into an active contributor to this educational community, and continue to evolve as a teacher is because of a group of teachers and administrators who got me threw my first couple years at this school.
In many ways, my school has many things set up that make it an optimal place for a teacher to be successful, but even with these things in place, nothing is guaranteed, and there are many challenges to face. It was theses people who took the time, and shared with me advice, insights, and at times simply did things for me that provided me support to give my best, to my students.
Over the years, these teachers and administrators who were central to getting me through the first couple years have left my schools. There were many retirements, and others moved to different school for personal and professional reasons. Every time a person left, it felt like, I couldn’t imagine being at school without them. To my surprise, as the following school year would start, I didn’t think about them at all. It wasn’t until the middle of the year when I really missed people who were no longer working with me.
As the number of these mentors and original support people dropped, I comforted myself with the knowledge that certain people were still around and that I could lean on them. And now I find myself facing the reality that the last person in that group of people who supported me in those first couple years is retiring this year.
This is the time when even though I know things will be okay, I feel like I don’t want to grow up. It’s silly, I know. It’s been more years than I want to admit to myself that I’ve been more of a mentor than a mentee, but part of me pines for days gone by, and feeling like I always had someone to lean on, someone I could be open about the fact that I don't know what is going on, and that I don't know how to handle a situation.
I know logically things are better for me now professionally than they were eight years ago. I’ve matured as a teacher, I’m involved in many projects, and I'm doing challenging work that brings me a great deal of satifaction. I know the score, I know the players and I get to be in the “room where it happens.”
But I miss those people who did so much for me, and I know I will miss this one last mentor more than I can describe right now.
I accept my role to mentor others, to be that support, that so many people gave to me as a way to show my gratitude to those who supported me. I did ask for these people to be so kind to me and provide me so much support. They didn’t owe this to me, and I can’t ever pay them back, so I need to make them proud by doing what they did for me to others who come into our school community.
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