Click on the above to be able to read the words - they are the whole point!!
Many years ago - in fact at least 24 because Noah is 27 - the nursery school director at SMCNS told me that even though her job wasn't high paying, it was "work worth doing" so she was content.
I thought about her words often - and often found myself thinking about tasks or assignments I had that seemed unappreciated or unnoticed - but I didn't mind because they were "work worth doing."
In my 17 years of teaching school, I was paid pretty well by some standards. But sometimes it seemed like I had to bite my tongue or just put up with unappreciative administrators, other teachers, and parents - not to mention some students. At those times, I would remember these words and think, "This is indeed work worth doing, so I will just ignore the rest."
In retrospect, this philosophy had a lot to do with my decision to retire. I honestly didn't feel that the change in the way we were expected to deliver services to students was really "work worth doing" and so couldn't summon the enthusiasm to put with all the attendant baggage this new method required.
That doesn't mean I think students are not worth working with. They are - they are very much worth working with. But for me, the methodology that the district adopted was not something I wanted to embrace. I am banking on the cyclical nature of fads in education to give students what they truly need - and indeed some of my former students will benefit from the push-in model - and the others will hopefully get what they truly need sooner rather than later.
And I certainly plan to spend the years ahead finding other work that is very much worth doing!
