What are unretirees doing?

Are you retiring this year and thinking ahead to how you will use your time? Are you planning endless days of lounging on the beach or visiting exotic locales?

Many of my fellow NYSUT unretirees like Betty Ann Cassero, Bill Caffrey,Virginia Ettrick, Regina Broten, Linda Deasy and Sue Amato jumped out of the frying pan, so to speak and into the fire.

They are working with collegiate students at the community college and state university level , undergraduate future teachers, and retired members of their union local.

Keeping busy and engaged after working with students in k-12 over the course of a career is important to veteran teachers. Unretirement means many things. It can mean a relaxed lifestyle with "working" taking on a different meaning.

Meeting students in a collegiate setting once or twice a week is different than an everyday commitment. Helping student teachers hone their skills in the face to face classroom by observing them with real students is different than working with individual student teachers daily.

Helping fellow colleagues organize a retiree chapter of their local, Amityville Teachers Association, keeps retirees informed of the latest benefit and legislative information. It also helps unretirees contribute to the larger conversation involving retired members and their role in the union activities of New York State United Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers.

Still other colleagues are including into their daily schedules volunteer fundraising activities with the Susan G. Komen -Race for the Cure or American Heart Association.

You’ve made the decision that this is your last year in the classroom. You now have endless possibilities before you.

What are your plans? What will you be doing? Will you become a snowbird with your better half? Half the year at home or in some sunny clime? Will you be the caregiver for your grandkids when they get home from school in the afternoons? Have you planned to travel whenever and wherever the mood strikes you? What will you do? Inquiring minds want to know!!