I have just completed my eleventh year of teaching. I have taught for all of them at the same school. When I first graduated from my credential program, I had two interviews. I had decided not to teach until I finished my master’s degree, but was encouraged to apply for a position that had come up to get “practice” at the interview process. I agreed this would be a good idea, and did so. I did not get the job, and didn’t feel comfortable at all at the interview. A day later another school in the same district called me and asked me to come in for an interview. I had not applied at this school, they said they received my information on-line from the first application I submitted. The administration asked me to come in on the day of our graduation, and I told them “no”. I had not walked for my graduation for my undergraduate program and had gone through a difficult year with my daughter, and felt I owed myself this celebration. They set the interview for a different day for me. I went to the campus early, to walk around, pray, and just find a comfort zone after the last interview. The moment I stepped on the campus, I was peaceful. After meeting the retiring principal, I knew I was supposed to be here. Sure enough, as I was walking through the door on returning home, I received a call offering me the position. I finished my master’s degree my first year of teaching here. That was a difficult but exhilarating year.
We have had three principals since then. The first two I found easy to work with, although many did not like the second one. The third one has been difficult for me. Last year we had some disagreements, and after a challenging year in which I had many successes, I was given a very undesirable assignment in what seemed like a punishment. I accepted this, was unable to find another position, so I persevered through another difficult year. This time I covered my bases, and was offered a transfer to another site in our district.
The school I have transferred to is a New Tech Network school. I have been attempting to find ways to teach in this manner at my current school site and have been experiencing difficulty in getting administrative support and understanding. Another difficulty occurred in attempting to share a cart of chrome books with another teacher in the department, and after quite a bit of stress, unresponsive administration, and frustrating interactions, I am so excited to be here. I believe that God honored my attempts to persevere in the midst of quite a bit of struggle and adversity, and has given me the opportunity to work with students in the manner I have desired. I knew immediately after the interview with this principal and vice principal that this was the place I was meant to be, and again, received a call as soon as I returned from the interview with the transfer offer. I have some things to learn and become acquainted with, I have not ever had the ability to do everything with technology as this was limited at my previous site. I’m excited about the opportunity to plan lessons this way, and awed at the difference in creating lessons this way.
I’m so grateful to my PLN, MTBoS, Christian Educators, and others I have met on Twitter and through blogging this year. I know that this will be challenging, but also feel I have the support to step up and meet the challenges head on. I’m reorganizing, and preparing for my new beginnings and new opportunities to grow.
Journey of A Mathematics Educator 