work

There are two things that are special about this post. First, it is my 600th post. I’ve been posting for four years now and it just amazes me that I’ve posted 599 posts before this. Thank you to all that read my site. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it as much as I’ve enjoyed writing. Second, it’s the last day of school. Now that the school year is (almost) over, let me sum up my thoughts.

ISS teachers have to have the toughest jobs (besides SpEd teachers). Besides dealing with the worst kids (behavioral-wise), you have to jump in where their regular teachers left off. When you’re dealing with three grades this makes it even more difficult.

Breaks are nice. During MAP testing I actually got a couple breaks. Other than that, I didn’t have a break all year long. I don’t even have a lunch break. I’m with the kids for 7 hours straight, from 7:15 until 2:15. I do believe I lost some sanity.

If silence is golden, I want platinum. Being in a setting as restrictive as this means no talking. I talk to explain homework to students one-on-one, but other than that, no talking. I’m someone who likes to develop a rapport with students. You can’t do that easily in this job. The silence really is deafening. What little sanity was left after not having any breaks, I lost due to the silence. Of course, once the school day was over you couldn’t get me to shut up. I feel bad for the other teachers.

I would never do this job again. It’s true. This job sucked so bad that I could not fathom doing it again. There are no breaks, dealing with the troublemakers everyday tends to kill your passion for teaching, and hearing one thing from district office about what I can and should do and something totally different from building administration tends to lead to a lot of gray area.

Luckily there were a few teachers who helped me keep my sanity over the year. These were the ones I shared many a happy hour with on Friday afternoons. For those wonderful people, I will forever be grateful.

So what is in store for me? Well, if you didn’t catch one of my previous posts, I’m going to go work for a company that creates, manages, and hosts websites for churches, organizations, and small businesses. It should be a fun time and I’m looking forward to the change in scenery.

So there you have it. It’s been a long year and I’m glad it is over. At the same time, looking back, though this year has been slow, it’s amazing to me that I’ve written 600 posts now. I hope you keep reading.

I saw that the school posted an opening for my job. Good luck to whoever takes it. They are going to need it. It’s hard to do this job and stay sane. No breaks at all. I even eat lunch with the kids. 7 hours non-stop of being with the kids. That’s a long time to be with the same kids without so much as a bathroom break or 5 minutes of time to take to yourself to preserve sanity. Oh well, in 5 more days it’ll all be over. I’m so excited for the school year to be over. I’m tired of the trouble-maker kids and this job. I’m excited about starting my new job. I’m looking forward to sleeping in an hour and a half later than usual. I’m excited to be in a job where I’m not drowning in deafening silence all day long; a job where I can listen to music, talk to co-workers, leave the building if I need to. All I have to do is get through the next 5 days. They are going to be long and hard, but I think I can do it. At least, I hope I can. I’m also excited for June because the hope of a new iPhone. My contract with Verizon is up near the end of June, so I will be buying an iPhone (if the new one comes out) and switching to AT&T. I can’t wait to get it. I don’t know what I’m more excited for, the end of school or a new phone. They both happen within a week of each other, so the excitement has built up considerably.

Today I turned in my letter of resignation. I will not be working for this school district next year. In fact, I won’t be working for any school district next year. I am leaving the education field to work for a website design company. I think it’s a great opportunity for me and I’m looking forward to hopping on board.

As I look back, I realize this school year passed relatively quickly. Yeah, during most of the year it seemed like the days crept by, after all, I do deal with the troublemakers. It has gone by fast though. Time is running out for next school year and next thing I know, school will be starting again. I needed to start looking elsewhere because of the lack of opportunity in the district and my desire to never do this job again, now was the perfect time to move on. Will I come back to education? Maybe some day down the line I’ll come back to the field, but for the immediate future I’m going to be putting all my time in energy into this new job.

Well, I’m officially 25.  Yesterday was my birthday and now I’m a quarter of a century old.  I had a good birthday.  My parents and sisters got me exactly what I asked for and my mom cooked one of my favorite meals.  Not only that, but it was sunny, warm, and the Cardinals won.  A good day all around.

As I look back at the last couple years since college, and we all tend to look at ourselves a little more harshly around birthday time, I do realize I’m not where I want to be with my life.  The job I have is not the job I want (or need).  The people here are great, but it’s not the teaching position that I wanted to get into as soon as I got out of college.  In order to get a high school position, I may have to move.  I’ve been thinking about going back to Springfield.  I know the schools and the area to an extent, so it shouldn’t be hard to adjust.  I would rather go to Springfield than Kansas City (even though several of my college friends now live there).  I couldn’t live with Royals baseball.  Cardinals all the way!  Anyway, I have got to find a position somewhere for next school year.  Cross your fingers and hope I find something because I’m 25 now.  Too old to still be here.