Tuesday, August 16, 2011

A New School Year


This is a picture of me and my class the first full year I taught as a special education teacher. The young man on the left was an intern for the semester.  I believe the year was 1972-73. Special education teachers were very scarce in those days and that is why I had an intern the first year I taught. In fact, special ed was my minor and I only had 12 hours of course work in it when I started teaching a class for learning disabled students that year.  So my intern and I were both learning together that first year.  I returned to school during the summers and at night and received my M.S. degree and certification in special education a few years later. After five years I burned out and returned to the regular classroom teaching second grade.  I taught for 32 years before retiring eight years ago.  Every year at this time I am reminded of the excitement of starting a new school year and how much I miss it.  Now I get to relive that excitement through my grandchildren. New clothes, new shoes, new school supplies and new teachers.  What fun.

Christine

7 comments:

Oklahoma Granny said...

The smells of a classroom on the first day of school with new pencils, paper, crayons and books is a memory that has stuck with me through the years.

Anonymous said...

Awesome!! :)

Sush said...

I'll bet you were one fantastic teacher...!

Hugs~

JacksDad said...

I didn't see any discussion of those thigh-high boots there! :)

Anonymous said...

What great memories. I always loved the first day of school.

Anonymous said...

Wow! I love the photo! Reminds me of Harper Valley PTA times! You favor your mom so much!

Becki in Utah

Vee said...

I bet every single one of those students loved you. What a cutie pie you are.