About Me:

Aloha! I'm Wendy Kennar. I'm the mother of a seven-year-old son and a wife living in Los Angeles. I was a public school teacher for twelve years until a chronic medical condition made it necessary to leave my teaching career.

I've always been described as "quiet" - really, I'm just biting my tongue. I've got lots to say, and lots of thoughts to share, I just prefer to write them. That's the purpose of this blog. Each Wednesday, I post a personal essay offering my observations and thoughts.

A few fun facts about me: I've wanted to be a writer since second grade, when my teacher, Mrs. Jones, made me a "book" with a yellow construction paper cover. I have never learned to whistle, have always preferred sunflowers to roses, and have spent my life living within the same zip code.

Through the years, my writing has been published in the Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, United Teacher, GreenPrints, L.A. Parent, DivineCaroline.com, RoleReboot.org, XOJane, and Brain, Child Magazine. Additionally, my personal essays have been included in several anthologies, including: The Barefoot Review, Beyond the Diaper Bag, Lessons From My Parents, Write for Light, Being a Grown-Up: A User's Manual for the Real World, Ka-Pow!, How Writing Can Get You Through Tough Times, Breath and Shadow, The Grey Wolfe Storybook, and Sisters Born, Sisters Found.
I am a regular contributor at MomsLA.com, and you can also find me at Goodreads.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Feel free to comment and share my blog with others!

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Withdrawals



  

           I have a mild case of withdrawals:  fidgeting, uncomfortable sensations, slight anxiety.

   Since retiring from my teaching career a few months ago, my mail carrier recently delivered a teacher supply catalog.  

   Summer would normally be the time I would be attempting to rest and recharge and gear up for a new school year.  Summer was always traditionally a big shopping time for me as well.  Stocking up on lined notebook paper, pencils, and spiral notebooks when office supply stores would hold their annual back-to-school sales.

   Catalogs offer different types of enticements.  They are full of glossy pictures, showing pristinely decorated classrooms.  Classrooms alive with color and organizational bins.  Ideas would spring to mind with each page I turned.  Should I attempt to arrange the books in my library corner by subject?  Biographies in one bin?  Travel destinations in another?  Fiction chapter books in yet another?  

   I prided myself on transforming a barren classroom into a welcoming, inviting, engaging classroom -- for both my students and myself.  My kids would be spending six hours a day, five days a week within those four walls.  My hours would be a lot longer than that.  I was personally invested in wanting our four-walled enclosure to be one I liked looking at.  Hence, the bamboo plant, the stuffed toy caterpillar along the out-dated radiator, and the pillows in the library corner.

   Each summer, I would come back to school on my own time, not being paid to spend days transforming a musty classroom into a catalog-worthy classroom.  Once I had my music on, I got to work and used some serious elbow grease that left me dirty and sore at the end of the day.  It was the ultimate before and after make-over.  Teal paper hung on bulletin boards.  Student desks set up with pencil boxes, folders, notebooks, and textbooks.  Seasonal decorations hung near the class calendar.

   And this year, I won’t be creating a learning environment.  This year, I’m hoping all my past efforts and good intentions serve as good karma.  My son will be starting kindergarten, and I hope that my twelve years as a public school teacher will carry him through twelve productive, engaging, safe years of education as well.

5 comments:

  1. Oh love!!! I know that you miss it and are sad (some days) about not working at school but just think, no seeing people you don't really like, no principal wearing high heels breathing down your neck, no parents complaining about their children, no dirty hands, and no wiping off dusty desks.. I loved our room setting up time but it isn't the same without you.. I am very proud of you and love your writing. I can see you working in your room jamming to your music.. Keep your head up and know everything happens for a reason.. I love you

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  2. Your room was always so inviting.The children's work was always up for display along with posters,etc.You gave so much of yourself to your students,and they all loved you.Everything was so colorful with all kinds of interesting displays around the room.I only hope Ryan gets teachers half as good as you were with all your students.Always remember your kids were always coming back to visit you even after leaving the school,and you always had parents requesting you to have their children in your class.I love reading your work.I love you and I am so proud of you.
    love,mommy

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  3. If you reach for the stars you will never fall in the mud. Even though you are not employed at a public school, you are still a great teacher. Your son is very bright and reads way beyond his grade level. Ryan is also very polite. I am proud of you.

    Love, Dad



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  4. Honey,
    You did amazing work for your students with your room. I know the pride you took in making it a great environment for them to learn in. You are a one of a kind teacher.
    I Love You!
    me

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  5. I got a bit teary-eyed seeing these pictures. I didn't really spend time with you in Room 7 but I will always have memories of you and me bonding in Room 4. *big hugs*

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