Wednesday morning is when I have had my face-to-face ethics class, every school week for the past 6 years, apart from when it was interrupted by COVID lockdowns. Today was the last ethics class of this school year, and I have decided not to return to the classroom next year.
I still enjoy it, but I wanted to regain some time in my week, and I wanted to go out with a good class. I felt like if I did another year it would be my last and I don’t want to come back next year and end up with a class of kids that are not as engaged and have worse behaviour than the group I had this year. Essentially, I’m going out on a high. I informed the ethics coordinator for the school about my decision a few weeks ago. They’ll miss me, obviously, but hopefully they’ll train new teachers and will have a full set of classes running again next year.
I taught the special “end of year” class for the kids this morning, in which we reflect on what we’ve done during the year, and the kids answer questions about what topics they enjoyed the most and why, and if they felt they have grown and changed during the year. They’ll all be going on to Year 7 and high school next year – the biggest change in their school careers. And… today is almost certainly the last day I will ever see any of them again. At the end of the class I wished them the best for their high school years and beyond. Every year I’ve felt a bit sad internally at this point, but the kids seem to take it in their stride. There are some really clever and mature kids in this class and I think they’ll do well. If I’ve made some positive difference to their lives, then that’s all I can ask for.
After the class there was a meeting of ethics volunteers at a cafe near the school. I saw the coordinator there, and she thanked me for my years of volunteering. She had a large envelope for me, which contained a certificate of appreciation for having taught 5+ years, and a pin with the same award written on it. I met a new guy who has just completed his volunteer training and will be starting next year, although he won’t be taking my Year 6 position – he wants to teach Year 1 (since his son is in that year).
After a bit we went back over to the school, which was putting on a special morning tea in the staff room for all the volunteer workers – the ethics and scripture teachers, as well as people who staff the school canteen and uniform shop and probably a couple of other volunteer positions. The principal gave a speech of thanks to us all, and there were finger foods and drinks. I filled up on some things (I’ve never gotten out of the habit from when I was a poor university student of taking advantage of free feeds), and that did me for lunch.
I got into a conversation with an older lady, who asked me what volunteer work I did. When I told her I taught ethics, she asked me about it, and was very interested as I explained how the classes work. The she said she wondered if she could do it, it sounded more interesting than making sandwiches in the canteen. So I introduced her to the ethics coordinator and said we might have a new volunteer! They exchanged contact details and so hopefully I managed to recruit my own replacement for next year. She seemed genuinely interested, so I hope she does the training and it works out.
Back home around lunch time, I did a walk with my wife and Scully, before going out for a 2.5k run myself, and finally preparing dinner before three online ethics classes in a row. It feels like a full and busy day!
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