So. It’s done. After 35 years working in the world of education, including 32 teaching French in secondary schools, I am retiring.
My end of career was marked, among other things, by a pandemic and a long labor dispute between teachers and the government. However, I’m not leaving bitter. I loved teaching until the end. In my class, with the door closed, with the students, everything was still going very well. Quite humbly, I was still on my X.
I wanted to end my career on a positive note, and today, I would like to remember the reasons why I loved this profession so much, which has made me happy all these years.
As a young idealist, like many, I chose teaching because I hoped to have a positive impact on the lives of certain young people. I hope I managed to influence some of them. But what I didn’t know was how much of a positive impact these young people would have on my life. How much they would make me a better teacher and a better person.
I have spent the last 23 years in a multi-ethnic school in a disadvantaged area. It was a whole different world for me. It’s crazy, how much I was able to learn from being around these young people. They opened my mind on several aspects and introduced me to a reality other than mine.
At the beginning of my career, young people showed me what resilience was while I taught students who were returning to secondary school for a third time. Others were examples of courage when, at my request, they hosted a gala in front of nearly 500 people. Some showed me what determination is while I was their training coach. touch football, which I did for around ten years. Others have proven to me that nothing is impossible, having managed to interview a former prime minister as well as the goalie of the Montreal Canadiens as part of my journalism classes. Students also taught me to enjoy the present moment during our trip to Greece in 2004.
But what I appreciated more than anything were the bonds I was able to build with them over all these years. I’m going to miss all the laughter, all the teasing, all the hallway chatter. When I saw them leave my class for the last time, when some awkwardly hugged me or shook my hand, I saw gratitude in their eyes. And there, despite the pitfalls of recent years, I remembered the reasons why I loved practicing this profession so much.
At the twilight of my career, I wonder what will remain of all this in a few years, what my former students will remember from my teachings. I do not know. However, I hope that they will remember the love, the passion, the complicity as well as the importance of choosing for yourself a job that you love and which stimulates you.
How many sleepless nights have I spent writing the gala of excellence, correcting the student newspaper or writing the capsules ofInfo-HB, our e-newsletter? How many lunchtimes rehearsing with students for the play in which I agreed, to help out the group, to play the lead role?
How many emails or Teams messages written to students or parents to reassure them? How many participations in Francophonie Week? In exchange for a little recognition from some of my bosses, I gave generously. I hope that, later, when I rock on the gallery of my RPA (private residence for seniors), at the Teachers’ Home, I will remember all of this.
I cannot end without highlighting the phenomenal work accomplished by my colleagues over all these years. I would like to tell them this: never doubt the importance of the work you do and the influence you can have on certain young people. You are inspiring and you work miracles within the means given to you. Against all odds, in increasingly difficult conditions, you are there, standing, ready, empathetic, committed. The profession you exercise is noble and essential. I am proud to have been part of your team. I am retired, but I will always be a teacher.
With that, it is now time for me to move on. After all these years, it’s a little scary, but at the same time, so exciting. I won’t be bored. There are so many books to read, terraces to visit, wines to discover, countries to visit, new people to meet, new projects to realize.
Good luck.