Last Monday I had a meeting with the head of the education dept. at UMD about student teaching in the spring. The interview is required to make sure that everything else that needs to be done is. I knew all I needed was one more class which I could take in the fall and then I’d be all set for the spring.

At least, that’s what I thought. See, I haven’t taken a class for a year. Within that year, they decided to restructure the education program and I was not informed. The original program had all graduate level courses except for the intro course, and none of those would count toward a Master’s, just for the teaching license. The new program replaced the original intro class with a graduate level one and allowed those courses to be carried over into the Master’s program. In fact, with the new program in place, I’d only have to take one more class after student teaching and I’d have my Master’s Degree…good news!!

Like a hero of mine (Randy Pausch) said, “The brick walls are not there to stop us, but to prove how much we want something.” My brick wall was not getting the job I’d earned, and when I decided to push forward anyway the universe responded and said, “Hey, you passed the test, now we’re gonna make it way easier to get your Master’s!!” Good universe.

However, the brick walls weren’t done. I was now required to take the new intro course as a replacement for the original. “OK,” I thought, “I’ll just take two in the spring.” I was then informed that the two courses I need were running on the same night at the same time. Go figure….but the universe intervened again on my behalf. That very day, the intro course had just had their first class for the summer session. It was being taught by the dept. head who I was discussing all this with. She remembered who I was from 2 or 3 years ago when I took the original intro class with her. Apparently I was a loudmouth or something. She told me I used to “go at it” with some of the other students. I can’t help it if I like to question everything. Anyway, there were no more spots left in the class, but she had one student who hadn’t shown up that day, and if she wasn’t there tomorrow then she’d automatically fail. I told her I’d be there at 9:00 am ready for class just in case.

I went the next morning and sat eagerly while students filed in. I had no idea who I was looking for so I just waited, tapping my foot nervously as I sat at my desk. 9:00 am rolled around, she closed the door and gave the thumbs up. I’m in!! Now I’m back on track to get this class done, take one in the fall, student teach in the spring, take one more class afterward and Master’s Degree completed!! Now can you dig that…

First, a little history…I started working at RMS about 4 years ago after catching the teaching bug from substituting and making the decision that the corporate world of design wasn’t for me. My gift has always been working with children, so I thought teaching elementary school was the best way to make use of this. My first year was trying, and I wasn’t being compensated well at all. I was working one-on-one with a 2nd grade boy who has Asperger’s Syndrome…no easy job. During the year a friend offered me a job making more than twice my current salary to resume my design career at Boston Scientific. While tempting, I’ve never been one to chase money instead of passion, so pursuing my teaching career is where I would stay. The next year led to a very slight pay increase and remaining with the same student through 3rd grade. I also started my classes to earn my teaching license. Year three is where I started getting a real taste of teaching, as my week was now spent with two days of teaching art and the remainder of the week as the permanent building sub, covering wherever I was needed. For a couple months while the art teacher was out on medical leave I taught art 5 days a week, certainly a good experience for one aspiring to get their own classroom. During this time I had many interviews for classrooms within the school, but never received one as I was not yet certified, so I understood and was happy to receive the experience of going through the process. Year four (this year) I’ve taken a slight pay decrease as now I only teach art once per week and spend the remainder as a “reading interventionist.” Again, I thought, great experience for an aspiring classroom teacher. I was also happy to take the decrease in pay as I thought it only temporary since I knew there would be three teachers retiring at the end of this school year. Certainly I would have earned one of those rooms with all of the experience I’d gained and time I’d put in here.

As this year started, I was already certified and had an early opportunity to get a classroom. As I’d written about before, our school was rocked with turmoil when a first grade teacher unexpectedly passed away. Her classroom was left vacant and needed to be filled quickly, so interviews took place. Of course I was included in this process. In the end I didn’t receive the job because it would be too difficult to find someone for the current positions I was in, despite the fact that I scored as high as anyone else during the interview process. I was disappointed, but again understood. Another opportunity arose as another teacher was injured and would be out for the remainder of the year. This time the interview process didn’t even happen; they simply placed someone in the room. Again, a little disappointed I wasn’t considered.

A few weeks ago the interview process began for the retiring teachers. With over 100 applicants for the classrooms, they narrowed it down to interview 20. I, of course, was one of the 20. Never feeling that an interview is my best time to shine, I came out of it thinking I’d done OK, but would move on because they were well aware of who I am and what I can do. I was right, and I was moved onto the next round. It was now down to 9, and we would have to teach lessons to the grade level they were considering us for. Despite my expressed desire to teach 2nd grade, they had me prepare and teach a 6th grade geometry lesson. I was very familiar with the kids in my class, and my lesson was solid in theory and execution. I was even told my classroom management skills were impressive. While debriefing about the lesson, I discussed my findings with the principal, telling him that it was perhaps a bit too easy for that grade level. Having no basis for what they already knew, I had to figure that out first from teaching this lesson, and in the future I would know how to make it more challenging. He agreed with me and accepted my explanation. I assumed that part of this process was to show that we could adapt, learn, and adjust based on the lesson itself. The debriefing would assess this and I came out feeling like I did very well showing that I knew what I was talking about.

Last Wednesday I got the news that I did not receive a classroom position for next year. My heart sank. I was told that my lesson “didn’t have the proper extension” and my interview wasn’t “as motivated as it had been in the past.” After interviewing and being denied positions four times in the past, should that be surprising? And if you want to talk about motivation, how about turning down a much more monetarily rewarding job to pursue a passion? It would appear that the only thing that was assessed was the interview and the sample lesson we taught. Apparently my four years of hard work for meager pay wasn’t part of the equation, nor my prior evaluations in which I was told I have an “unmatched rapport with the children.” I had thought I was doing things the right way. I came in on the ground level, paid my dues, and worked my way up. Doesn’t that earn me something? Guess not. Instead of a classroom, I am being offered my current position for next year with one change. The art teacher is returning to full time, so I would do reading intervention 5 days a week…and that would mean yet ANOTHER pay cut. I’m not willing to do the dance anymore, and I’m not willing to be their patsy. At this point I deserve more than that.

So here I am. It’s the last week of school…and most likely my last week at RMS. It’s been tough shifting so quickly in my mind from the idea that I would be making my career here to not being here at all. I’ll miss a lot of things about this place. It takes me a long time to become comfortable anywhere, and I had just started to make some friendships with co-workers. More than that I’ll miss the kids. When I was a sub in Plainville for just half a year it was tough leaving. Now I’ve known some of these kids for 4 years and after this Friday I have to leave them too…breaks my heart. They won’t be happy either when they return next year and I’m not around.

It’s not all negative though. I’ve started looking toward the future. Will I remain in teaching? I don’t know that yet. Right now I feel a bit jaded, even though this was only one school. I had planned on working with my friend Matt this summer one way or the other doing some personal training. I’m planning to get that certification now along with a certification in clinical hypnotherapy, something I’ve been very interested in as of late. Perhaps this is the next career move for me, or perhaps I’ll look around in other districts and return to teaching some day. I’m trying to focus on the excitement of something new instead of the disappointment of something lost. So far so good.

I normally don’t post things this long, but I’ve had a lot festering inside of me since this all went down and felt I needed to just let it all pour out. If you hung with me this far, thanks for caring that much. If not…well…you’re not reading this part anyway, so go screw. (told ya I’d get out a little anger)

Remarkable Blind Teen Dies Of Cancer At 16

I have an interview this afternoon for the 1st grade position. It would have been earlier in the day, but because of dumb tooth, I needed to reschedule for around 5:00. Let’s hope that if the dentist numbs me up, I’ll be OK to talk again by 5:00. At least I’ll know everyone doing the interview and they’re aware of my situation, so I won’t sound like too much of an idiot. I’m not sure if I’ll get it or not, but I do know I’m the best person for the job. My fear is that they won’t want to pull me from my current position AND have the kids transition to someone new again, even if I do already know half the class from having them in art all last year.

Yesterday I sold a good amount of the remaining chocolates from the craft fair in school. After the fair this past Saturday, I was in the hole about $80. Not really what I was expecting. Fortunately the teachers seem to want to get their hands on ‘em, and I’m up into the profit margin now. I’m pretty sure I can get rid of everything in the next week or two. I’ll sell them here one more day and then I’m gonna start exporting what I have left.

Despite the “state of the economy” that everyone in the media keeps whining about, my online store is on pace to have my best December sales yet. We’re only 10 days into the month and I’ve already made $63. Not bad, and still plenty of time left.

My group of kindergarteners today were so cute. They always crack me up. We were playing a rhyming memory game when all of a sudden one of the girls says to me, “You look strong. I can see your muscles.” I laughed out loud at that one. Then when they were leaving, I wished them all a Happy Thanksgiving and one boy asked me, “Can I give you a hug before I go back to class?” At this they all joined in with, “Me too. Me too.” So funny.

The biggest of recent events is unfortunately a sad one. A couple weeks ago, a first-grade teacher at my school died suddenly. It caught everyone off-guard. From what I’ve heard, she had trouble breathing that morning, was rushed to the hospital, then her heart stopped and there was nothing they could do. At this point the school is back to a somewhat normal functionality, but for a few days it was a strange feeling. On one hand, it was very sad and tragic. There were both teachers and students hit hard by the loss, and it was a noticeable one. On the other hand, it showed a beautiful side of people. During an all-school meeting, it was amazing to see children hugging and comforting each other, really caring about one another. For a little while, we were a lot less of a school, and a lot more of a big family. That’s by far one of the things I like the most about where I work.

WrestleFest has come and gone, not without it’s own drama. JC was worried about the attendance the whole time, but I assured him frequently that it’d be fine. I don’t know how I knew, I just knew. The turnout was good, and the crowd itself was great! They were very much into the whole show. My return match was decent, and my “death” sequence was cut short. I was disappointed at the time that it didn’t play out how I would have liked it too, but myself and Volpe have already figured out a work-around that’ll make it work. Lots of work to do in the off-season, including several creative meetings and making entrance videos for everyone.

There’s a craft fair in Rochester coming up on Dec, 6th (I’ll post more specifics about the event soon). Every year several teachers from the school participate by selling one thing or another. After some discussions in the lunch room, I was asked to participate and sell the chocolates that I make around Christmastime every year. I’ve thought of selling them in the past, but never actually got around to it. The fair gives me a good opportunity to start that process. Maybe I’ll get into making different stuff around holiday seasons year round. I’ve already gone out and bought about 58 lbs. of chocolate, so I’m gonna be a busy guy between now and Christmas. I started production the other night and made about 50 peanut butter cups in 2 1/2 hours. I’m a machine!

That’s a long enough post for now I think. Stay tuned, I’m sure there’s more on the way.