Random Job Thoughts

So, th. asked me a great question and so I thought I'd share with the world. Was it really worth it to change jobs?

The short answer would be yes and no. Welcome to blogville though and to my random musings so here comes the longer answer beginning with the pros and cons. So, whether or not you wanted the whole story, here it is.

What Has Been Worth It
1. Get to see old friends
2. More money
3. Get to teach Shakespeare (Huzzah!)
4. Get to work with sophomores (more maturity)
5. Get to meet new people
6. Get new teaching techniques
7. Get to teach at alma mater
8. Get to work with more extra-curricular activities
9. Have a better mentor
10. Get to teach reading and writing
11. Having absolutely amazing colleagues
12. Five minutes from my apartment
13. Now make enough to live in an apartment
14. Made connections and networks to call on in future
15. Strengthened resume
16. Getting two prep periods
17. Good advice from administrator
18. Great Co-teacher
19. Parents more involved with students' schooling

What Has Been Hardest
1. Not being on a team with my favorite people in the world
2. Teaching two entirely new subjects with two different books
3. Grading a million and a half papers
4. Have to wait longer to get tenure (switched districts)
5. Tough administrator
6. Over-protective parents
7. New teachers to get to know
8. Stigmas to get over
9. New school, new rules, new philosophy, new everything

The reason I switched schools in the first place was kind of serendipitous. Actually, I was planning on moving to Utah and so, for a kind of practice, I interviewed with my old school district. It's one of the best in the area (public schools at least) and it's always been my dream. I figured that it just seemed right. Well, I went to Utah, it suddenly didn't feel right, and then I got a call from my old school, interviewed, interviewed again and got the job.

I really, really loved my old job, but I was kind of spurred on by the question my sister asked me. "If you could do anything without being afraid, would you do this?" The answer was yes, so off I went, and it was darn hard. I have a lot of good things about it, but the hard things really are a tough adjustment. The funny thing is, though, if for some reason I would get offered a chance to stay, I would in a minute.

I finally feel like I'm adjusting. I think that at any teaching job it takes at least two years at a school before you really feel like you're making any progress rather than just treading water. (I've never been at a place longer than that since I only have two years under my belt.) I'm meeting more people and figuring out how in the world to work with freshman who can't figure out how to write a five-paragraph essay to save their lives.

I think though, too, that this might just have been God's way of tying up some loose ends for me. I had a tough time in high school (especially sophomore year) and between being painfully shy and some major health problems I struggled. I missed a lot of school and teachers and classmates weren't always so friendly about it. Now that I've been back, though, I feel like I kind of have gotten to show some of my stuff. I still don't always feel like the best teacher, but I've had a lot of positive feedback. Also, I've been able to do things as a teacher I never got to do as a student. I played in the student/faculty basketball game. I'm helping with the creative writing club and the book club. Heck, I'm a main character in a play! (Just call me Peppermint Patty!) How in the world did that happen? This all seems kind of selfish when I put it on paper, but it's true.

I will stop now to keep this from getting too glurge-y, but it was a hard decision to make and it's a good to think it through. Especially as I may or may not be going back to the same school next year.

So, th. hopefully not TMI, but there's the long answer.