So in August I'm "going back" to the classroom.
It's still hard for me to fully grasp that idea, that I've lost the job that I love and it has nothing to do with my job performance or capabilities. In a time where there are entire schools being restructured by having all employees re-interview for their jobs, the only part that factored into selecting my position was that I was the last person hired. Some days I feel like I'm progressing through the stages of grieving, and other days I feel like I'm just going to wake up tomorrow and it will all have been a very long nightmare. And yes, it is a grieving process. I have lost something which I love and had no choice or say in the matter.
This weekend I was starting to see a light and begin to be excited about some of the possibilities with this new job. When I left the classroom blogs had only been approved for use in our district for a couple of months, the only wiki anyone had ever heard of was Wikipedia and the tools like Glogster and Voicethread hadn't even started yet. When I think about all that I have learned in the last three years as an instructional technology specialist, and pair that with all of the technology I will have available to me in the classroom, I really do start to get excited. I know that my experience as an ITS has made me a better teacher and that I will be able to more strongly impact students when I have that daily, face-to-face interaction with them, but I'm still struggling with the whole idea.
Leaving the classroom to take this position was the hardest thing I had ever done in my professional life at the time as I love teaching, and now I'll be "going back" with a new perspective and new skills.
Image courtesy of ManojVasanth and Flickr.
2 comments:
I see your move being of the same as it was for Dyan Smokorowski in Andover. But the students you will be directly working with are going to be blessed. They will get to use tools that may be used on a normal basis in other classrooms. Good luck.
Hey Erin,
I have been thinking about you the last few days since i've missed small group the last two weeks. I wasn't sure what had happened or what you had found out about your job. Then found your blog. So sorry for the change, but I know that you'll be pretty awesome in the classroom with all of your tech-y skills. So, cheers to new beginnings! And Praise God for a job! No hunting, thats awesome! See ya soon!
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