I felt the need to purge today - just get rid of mess that has piled up during the last 16 years. I thought I did some of that when I changed rooms three years ago, but I didn't. I think I just stuffed junk in file cabinets with the idea that I would get to it later. So, today was later.
It felt good to let go of things that got passed down to me with the admonition, "You should keep this in case someone asks for it." What???? If you can't specifically tell me what it is and why it is important, then it's outta here! Of course, now I'm sure one of my administrators will want some climate survey from five years ago that made its way to the trash can today.
One of my coworkers said that he was in a minimalist phase. Last year, he got rid of a lot of old materials, but this year, he is throwing out even more. He said he was trashing old textbooks and workbooks and deleting old computer files. He made the comment that it was difficult to do at first, but then he felt relieved.
I like the idea of narrowing my focus. Having before me only what I need. I always save, save, save "just in case." And "case" never comes. This year, I want to utilize materials that work not materials that are handy.
And I'll keep hoping I won't need my gradebook from 1998!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
My purge came after many changes of rooms as I retired from teaching (the first time). I had created all these great summer school units for little ones and they never got used a second time, as I taught different things in summer school. They were neatly categorized in boxes on the ping pong table in the basement (which hadn't seen a game of ping pong in many years). I thought about trying to give them to somebody but then chose to just deep 6 all my creations into big black garbage bags. I dragged them up the stairs and to the curb with tears in my eyes but, surprisingly, I did a little dance for joy when the garbage men came and flipped them all into their truck and drove off. Purging is good. At my Illinois retirement my co-workers did a little skit and got to the heart of each retiree. They had been sneaking into my room and finding "old" materials and writing down the oldest one to "use against me" in the skit. i actually had some things from 1946 that I had dragged to school and moved from room to room. It was quite humiliating (and funny) but a lesson learned and in this case - passed on to you. PURGE if you think it won't help you this year or next year. PURGE, PURGE, PURGE!!!
ReplyDelete