April is the cruelest month

APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.

 From T.S. Elliot’s “The Waste Land”


April conjures up Income Tax (I am a procrastinator here), Spring Break, signing a teaching contract for the coming year, mowing the yard….usually getting the rider back in to running condition.  It also marks the start of warmer weather, longer bike rides, cruising with the top down, exploring new places.

This year’s April shower (code for new adventure) is my teaching assignment for next year is totally unknown. We have diminishing students, too many teachers, changing requirements….and most of what I currently teach is not necessarily where a teaching body will be needed.  Since I have one of those old fashioned certifications that grandfathers me to teach anything, I have become the flexible square in the schedule nightmare.  Being the oldest teacher somewhere near the top of the seniority ladder, I have become the hired gunfighter in the show Paladin: Have cert, will travel.

I was tabulating the number of different classes in my career. I think the official number is 39 to date. The list is long, including Film as Art, Shakespeare, Washington Humanities, War in America, Algebra, Architecture, Flash Animation, Yearbook, Photography, etc.  The probability is next year I will probably break 40. I wonder how many teachers get to say that.