As a music teacher, I will be retiring at the end of the current school year. When that checklist from the HR department about my1plans for the next school year arrived, I was feeling 2.
My music room was in the basement. Heating pipes hung from the ceiling and large 3columns ran floor-to-ceiling, making4challenging. I had seen kids come to school with bruises (擦伤) or cigarette burns on their arms. I had had my purse stolen. I had been pushed up against a wall and 5 breathless by an angry eighth- grade girl.
When this year started, things were going much6. Kids were coming before school and during break to learn7 to play, and by Christmas, we had a concert band of 100 kids. Good behavior and fascinated attention led to8rehearsals(排练). As the students' playing improved, I could see their pride and sense of9grow. I hadn't even thought about the checklist. Then one afternoon, there it was. I picked it up, planning to go back to my office to sign it10. But holding it in my hand, I was11by thoughts and emotions I hadn't anticipated. I felt like a mother 12her children. I have loved unexpected comments of kids. 13, I have enjoyed the challenges of motivating the unmotivated as well as the 30-second conversations with teachers, making me embrace the 14 learning and growing.
The checklist suddenly made me feel 15, old and sad. I stood where I was, checked the box and sent it to the HR. Then I walked the long hallway back toward the music room.
