My biggest victory this month? Getting a job!! Better yet? It’s a teaching job!
Yes, you are now reading the blog post of a senior English teacher Moore High School. Yippeeeeeeee!!!!! :-)
It all happened so fast that I truly did not have time to write a blog post about it or even to soak up the news. As of a few days ago I was still catching glimpses of myself in the mirror and thinking to myself, “Senior English? Yeah, that’s right! Holy shish-kabobs!”.
Here’s the story...I interviewed for a job at an alternative school in Norman. It went well, and I had worked with the director before during my Literacy Coach job (she was an assistant principal there). Sometimes it is about who you know, and I hoped that our having worked together would give me an edge over other interviewees. About a week went by before I heard from the school again - only this time, it was from a brand new director! A principal had left one middle school in town and the director who I’d interviewed with was now the head principal there and now this new guy wanted me to come in for another interview since the last lady had left my name as a recommendation. Basically, the administrators in town had done their best deck-of-cards impression and shuffled around. (Surprise!) Anyway, I went in to interview with the new director and the counselor. They tried to throw me some curve balls but I did pretty well. That was on a Wednesday... I came home and overanalyzed my interview performance only to have my thoughts get interrupted by a phone call - Moore High wanted me to interview! I was sure that they had forgotten all about me. I’d sent in my application well over a month ago and hadn’t heard a thing.
Friday afternoon I interviewed and it was fantastic! The principal and I honestly seemed to share similar viewpoints on education. We must have talked for almost 45 minutes, but it went by fast because it went so well! He even saw it as a good thing that all my experience was with middle schoolers. I’d assumed that my work with younger kids would be a liability; I haven’t been in a high school since I was that age. Instead, he told me he appreciated that middle school teachers always plan for every single minute of the class period. We can’t give those kids two free minutes at the end of the period unless we want to see complete pandemonium. They are just too squirrely to be trusted with unstructured time, bless their hearts. Anyway, he knew that for me to teach high schoolers would mean the kids would work hard for all 55 minutes.
Monday afternoon rolls around. Now, keep in mind that I had been praying hard for a job, any job. Of course, after the Moore High interview went so well - if I was really honest with myself - I preferred that job. I even specifically asked God to make sure that Moore High would call me back first, since I would feel better about immediately accepting that job. What happened? You guessed it. The alternative school called.
It felt like I was holding a pair of deuces at a poker table with the high rollers, completely out of my league, and the guys with their cigars and Rolexes had just decided to raise the bet. At what point should I just lay the cards on the table? Shouldn’t I just accept the job offered to me? The bird in the hand was supposedly more valuable than the two in the Moore High bush. Wouldn’t that have been the responsible thing to do? It was a huge gamble. Moreover, my husband was out of the country for work. It’s not like I could immediately get the advice I needed. Welp, it was time to put on my big girl panties, as my mentor teacher would say.
I was honest. I told the director that I was still waiting to hear back from another school and I also wanted to talk with my husband first before accepting a position. He was very understanding, and I told him I could call to touch base the next day. Once my husband got home later that night, we weighed the pros and cons of each job. They were completely different jobs, for one thing. Aside from teaching some students, they did not resemble each other at all.
The alternative school job? An enormous challenge even for an experienced teacher, which I am not. I would have had to teach all core subjects to the same 10-12 students who I would see all almost all day....Yeah...They would have a little over an hour for lunch and art class when I could “probably do some planning”, in the words of the director. It would be a planning nightmare as well as an unfair break for the students - there are about a gazillion people who could teach math better than me, for instance.
The high school job? One subject, 140 students throughout the day, a high school that kids take pride in, and an excellent group of teachers to support me throughout my first year of teaching. Granted, my knowledge of the British literature that’s typically taught in senior English is very limited. I mostly studied American literature at OU. I’ll need a refresher on some things and will definitely still have my hands full. Still, I wanted this job sooooo bad.
I kept calling Moore High but of course they were doing some training seminar thing and no one was even available to answer the phone. I called the alternative school back and let them know that I still hadn’t heard. He was so understanding about it that I wondered if I was making a mistake. Maybe I could handle the job in this alternative setting? I went back and forth on this seesaw probably every hour. Anyway, I gave the school and myself a deadline. I would let him know either way by Wednesday afternoon, about a day and a half for Moore High to call me.
Of course, a bit later, the Moore High principal called to say that he wasn’t considering anyone else but me for the position. He just wanted to call my references first before formally offering the job. He would let me know by Wednesday evening...evening, as in, after the afternoon time that I had promised to call the super nice, generous and patient director at the alternative school!
I called on Wednesday at the appointed time and let him know that honestly, I just needed a little more time. He was totally cool. He wanted me to know my options and seemed to respect my situation. About an hour and a half later, Moore High offered me the job that I gleefully accepted. After a little jumping up and down and shouting “senior English!!” at the top of my lungs, I let the family and the Facebook world know.
The next morning I called to politely decline the alternative school. I still have to write that director a heartfelt thank you note! He really could have been a jerk about it if he wanted to and said he couldn’t afford to wait on me. I’m very grateful.
I’ll report to Moore High tomorrow morning and get to work. Meeting teachers, (hopefully) setting up my classroom unless I have to travel, learning about the curriculum, and lots more. The students arrive on Thursday, so I have lots of decisions and planning to do these next few days. With a very supportive family behind me, I know I can do what needs doing.
I’ll do my best to keep posting on here. There’s actually more I want to say about victories, but that’s for another post. Now to go pack my lunch for tomorrow... Wish me luck!! :-)
