After 32 years in high school, I think it’s time for me to graduate and move on to college. I’m hoping to find a college teaching position that will allow me to work with students who want to become teachers.
So, I’m spending part of my Thanksgiving holidays traveling around and visiting campuses in North Carolina since that’s where I will eventually meet family for Thanksgiving dinner. (I know this isn’t the customary job-hunting method, but it can’t hurt.) I made sure to finish all of my work on Sunday so I could actually rest over the holidays and not have to think about grading papers, returning emails. designing lessons, etc.
Tonight as I unpacked in a hotel in High Point, NC, I was greeted by one of those happy unexpected events that made me pause and smile. Without any warning, I just happened to have booked a 7th-floor room overlooking the street where the town held its Christmas parade tonight. So, two days before Thanksgiving, children dressed in red and white danced down the street along with sparkling floats, drum corps, dignataries in cars, and the ever-present high school bands. I pulled up a chair to the window and watched the entire parade.
Although I smiled the entire time, I felt a little guilty when I saw so many school organizations because I knew a teacher was down there supervising each group. I knew that scores of teachers gave up part of their holiday night so their students could participate. I also knew that most of those teachers donated their time. They won’t get extra paychecks or even extra pats on the back for their help or their devotion, and most of them probably won’t even care because they participated to help kids.
I suspect the police officers who supervised the parade were paid for their services along with the street sweepers who are out cleaning the streets as I type this message. I just wish those dedicated teachers would get another day of vacation to make up for the time they spent today preparing for the parade and for tonight as they marched beside their students.
I felt guilty, but I thoroughly enjoyed the parade, even the part where the young children danced to “Thriller,” apparently a new Michael Jackson Christmas classic.
