Sunday, August 05, 2012

Sort of, Semi, Back on Track

This is starting to feel like an annual to semi-annual ritual at this point, the resurrection of my teaching career, which I had, this time, figured was pretty much down for the count, with a stake through its heart.

OK, bringing you up to date. A year and a half after my dramatic departure from St. Attracta's, I've taken another full-time teaching job. This is not an ideal job. Perhaps that's best. I went into St. Attracta's expecting a lot. This time, I am expecting relatively little. The school is a small charter with high academic expectations and an exceedingly high opinion of itself. The administration is lackadaisical, the students polite and well-prepared. I do not expect to be treated well, but I think I may enjoy the actual classroom teaching.

This is disappointing in certain ways. I thought I was running away from teaching, and by doing the MFT program, preparing myself for a different career, one hopefully more lucrative, and suited to my strengths. A year and a half later I am about halfway through the program, unsure of my ability to finance the rest of it, unsure of how I will manage to do the required clinical hours to complete the course, and more deeply in debt. And going back to teaching. But this needs to happen. I can't support my family on student loans and the money from a part-time tutoring gig down the street, and this is something that will work for a year, maybe two. I will figure things out, perhaps not in the short term I had hoped for, but I did accomplish a lot during this impromptu sabbatical.

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