Checking in
I know I've been absent. It always happens mid-year for me as testing ramps up, responsibilities get out of hand, and life just generally goes nuts.
But there is news.
On Monday, I stepped away from teaching.
For those of you who want the long story, here it is:
I graduated in December with my degree in Information Science and a grad certificate in Information Management. It was originally my plan that I would use these degrees to make the jump out of education into the information field. I had hoped to make the jump before graduating, but I just loved my online school so much I couldn't just... leave. You know?
Online school is no different than B&M (brick and mortar) in the sense that if you take one leadership position, you get eight more. I went from working 40 hour weeks to working 80 a week. Then I noticed all I did was work and my students were suffering. I couldn't teach. I couldn't do ANYTHING but try to get my workload off my plate. Common complaint of teachers, of course. If you are doing a good job, your hours are more than 40 a week. But I wasn't being a good teacher and I was slowly burning myself out. My admin team told me, in not so many words, to "deal with it."
So, I started applying to jobs. I wasn't serious about stepping away at that point. I was unhappy. Extremely unhappy. I just couldn't leave my kids. So I only applied to my dream jobs. You know those jobs--the ones you never thought you would get a call back for.
I got a few call backs. An interview here, an interview there. Nothing more than the first step. I was called back for a collegiate teaching position twice. I was so excited. Then, the day before Christmas Eve, I was rejected for "lack of experience."
I was devastated. I had the experience they were looking for but it wasn't at the level they had wanted.
So, on Christmas Eve... I made my Christmas wish. I applied for a technology-based position at a college in Arizona. It would bring me close to my family, allow me to spend time with my dying grandfather, and it is everything I loved about working in education--teaching educators how to be more effective. I wanted this job.
I heard nothing until late January when they told me that I had put "Not legally authorized to work in the US" on my application on accident. "Fix it," they said.
I fixed it. Three weeks later, I interviewed for an Instructional Technologist position. They needed someone to teach their faculty how to effectively use technology in online and offline courses. I submitted my doctoral thesis on Learning Management Systems and wrote a second cover letter about my studies and how they could be implemented on their campus. I could do everything they wanted. I've DONE everything they wanted.
I didn't have much hope. I've done this for K-12 for years, but never at a collegiate level. I expected to be turned down again.
Then they gave me the salary sheet. They told me to look at the town, explore my housing options, and make sure I could live on that salary. Uh, yeah. I could definitely live on that salary.
They made a formal job offer contingent upon my start before April. That meant that I had a little over three weeks to finish up my current job and move 13 hours away to Arizona. Okay... done. Gave my two weeks on Monday.
It isn't out of the education world. Let's be honest... I've been rooted here for 10 years. I'm not going anywhere. But it is everything I love about working with teaching professionals. It will allow me to do my doctoral research on real professors, real students, in a real nationally-recognized university. It will allow me to spend my grandfather's final moments with him.
And I am *so* happy.