Coming Full Circle
"Life isn't a destination--it's a journey. We all come upon unexpected curves and turning points, mountaintops and valleys. Everything that happens to us shapes who we are becoming. And in the adventure of each day, we discover the best in ourselves."
I stole this from the back of a Hallmark greeting card and used it as the basis for a bulletin board at school. I had the students in my 7th period class each design a section of the inspirational statement and then put all of the sections together on the bulletin board.
It's funny how life works. I started out teaching in the South end of Columbus, moved to the East side of town, then changed from Elementary to Middle School and now am teaching High School back in the South end of town. I'm familiar with the area and knew the quickest way to get from my house to my new building. I know that I was hesitant about this school year primarily because I didn't want to leave where I was at and the staff & students I had put so much time and energy into building relationships with. However, I was also apprehensive about the way things went down(how I wasn't really chosen by the staff to be there) and just the whole uncertainty of my situation.
Fast forward. It's now the end of my second week of teaching High School and I've managed to build relationships with the new staff. I've charmed the secretary and the custodians. My students for the most part seem to really be responding to me. I've managed to smooth over some rough spots with some of my more abrasive students; although I'm not naive enough to believe that there isn't more turbulence lurking around the corner at some point. But, I'm okay with it, I just keep pouring on the kindness. In fact, just today, as I was leaving the building, the principal put her hand on my shoulder and told me to have a good weekend and be careful going home. Now this is a typically courteous thing to do, but for this women whom I had pretty much vilified all summer long as being insensitive and gruff (okay, yeah I know I was much more harsh than that) this seemingly small gesture really meant a lot to me. She could have just simply said what she did and left it at that, but by prefacing it with that hand on my should emphasized to me that she was truly sincere. So, as things stand now, it would appear that I have my confidence back and I'm prepared to deal with whatever comes. (Oh please, Fate, do NOT think for one second that I am tempting you with my arrogance.) Maybe South High was where I was meant to be at this point in my life after all.
Oh sure, I'm probably the biggest skeptic around. I don't buy into Astrology, or Horoscopes, or Psychic Readings...but I do try to find meaning and order to the happenstance of life. Certainly, there is a great deal of subjectivity involved and I'm fully aware that I might just simply be "making" things fit and drawing connections between things that are merely coincidence or possibly only related in my imagination, BUT, I just cannot shake this feeling I have that I'm actually on course and that my train did NOT jump the track last spring when I got staff reduced and had to leave Mifflin International Middle School. I'd hazard to say that it's feeling more and more serendipitous each day, which frightens me, because my self defensive side is being thrown into alarm mode because this train of thought is bound to lead me to letting my guard down and getting attached to this situation, just like I did last year with Mifflin.
Oh well, so be it. I do my best work when I'm emotionally invested anyway. I'm better prepared to handle the potential disappointment should upheaval hit again this coming spring. It feels good to finally be back in a positive frame of mind regarding my professional life. Now if I could just manage to get my personal life in order---LOL. One thing at a time I guess.
I'll close with another inspirational/motivational statement sponsored by Hallmark:
"Dreams take Time, Patience, and a Willingness to Fail if they are ever to be anything more than Dreams."
I stole this from the back of a Hallmark greeting card and used it as the basis for a bulletin board at school. I had the students in my 7th period class each design a section of the inspirational statement and then put all of the sections together on the bulletin board.
It's funny how life works. I started out teaching in the South end of Columbus, moved to the East side of town, then changed from Elementary to Middle School and now am teaching High School back in the South end of town. I'm familiar with the area and knew the quickest way to get from my house to my new building. I know that I was hesitant about this school year primarily because I didn't want to leave where I was at and the staff & students I had put so much time and energy into building relationships with. However, I was also apprehensive about the way things went down(how I wasn't really chosen by the staff to be there) and just the whole uncertainty of my situation.
Fast forward. It's now the end of my second week of teaching High School and I've managed to build relationships with the new staff. I've charmed the secretary and the custodians. My students for the most part seem to really be responding to me. I've managed to smooth over some rough spots with some of my more abrasive students; although I'm not naive enough to believe that there isn't more turbulence lurking around the corner at some point. But, I'm okay with it, I just keep pouring on the kindness. In fact, just today, as I was leaving the building, the principal put her hand on my shoulder and told me to have a good weekend and be careful going home. Now this is a typically courteous thing to do, but for this women whom I had pretty much vilified all summer long as being insensitive and gruff (okay, yeah I know I was much more harsh than that) this seemingly small gesture really meant a lot to me. She could have just simply said what she did and left it at that, but by prefacing it with that hand on my should emphasized to me that she was truly sincere. So, as things stand now, it would appear that I have my confidence back and I'm prepared to deal with whatever comes. (Oh please, Fate, do NOT think for one second that I am tempting you with my arrogance.) Maybe South High was where I was meant to be at this point in my life after all.
Oh sure, I'm probably the biggest skeptic around. I don't buy into Astrology, or Horoscopes, or Psychic Readings...but I do try to find meaning and order to the happenstance of life. Certainly, there is a great deal of subjectivity involved and I'm fully aware that I might just simply be "making" things fit and drawing connections between things that are merely coincidence or possibly only related in my imagination, BUT, I just cannot shake this feeling I have that I'm actually on course and that my train did NOT jump the track last spring when I got staff reduced and had to leave Mifflin International Middle School. I'd hazard to say that it's feeling more and more serendipitous each day, which frightens me, because my self defensive side is being thrown into alarm mode because this train of thought is bound to lead me to letting my guard down and getting attached to this situation, just like I did last year with Mifflin.
Oh well, so be it. I do my best work when I'm emotionally invested anyway. I'm better prepared to handle the potential disappointment should upheaval hit again this coming spring. It feels good to finally be back in a positive frame of mind regarding my professional life. Now if I could just manage to get my personal life in order---LOL. One thing at a time I guess.
I'll close with another inspirational/motivational statement sponsored by Hallmark:
"Dreams take Time, Patience, and a Willingness to Fail if they are ever to be anything more than Dreams."
posted by Chris at 7:29 PM
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