One for the record books
I’m pretty sure I just wrapped up the most momentous month of my professional career.
I’ve written, of course, of how just 30 days ago, I hosted the first inaugural edcamp here in the Philadelphia area with a crack team of awesome educators. It’s almost frightening to me how quickly the idea has expanded, as one can look at the wiki and see edcamps being planned in 9 different states across the country so far, with some more in the works and not quite ready to go live yet. We’ve even got our own spinoff here in Philly with ntcamp.
We’ve nearly hit escape velocity.
Today is the first day of my Summer vacation, and as of 3:00 last Friday, I no longer work for my employer of the past eight years.
I’m moving on up to the east side.
About a year ago, my wife and I definitively decided that we would plan on moving to Massachusetts sometime following this past school year. Since I crave stability in my daily life, I found this a bit frightening. While I have repeatedly mentioned my own frustrations with my position in my school, I still did rather like many aspects of the job, especially the people that I worked with.
So what’s next?
Given how this is pretty much the worst year ever for teachers looking for a job, I’m as amazed as anybody that I was fortunate enough to land not just any job, but a position that I’m really excited about. Next year I’m going to be the Technology Integration Specialist for Pine Glen School in Burlington, MA. Quite honestly, this is exactly the kind of job that I really wanted to do, but didn’t think would possibly happen to me. I’ll run a computer lab and teacher students about using computers, which is nice because it means I’ll have contact with every kid in the building.
To me, the even more exciting aspect is that I’m supposed to have time specifically for working with other teachers in the building and helping them to bring technology use into their own classrooms. Given my increasing interest in professional development over the past couple of years, this will give me a real chance to help bring about more systemic change.
I’ll admit to being very conflicted that I’m abandoning a lot of the core elements that have defined my first eight years as an educator. My new position is going to be so drastically different from what I’ve been doing on so many different levels, and it will differ in a lot of ways from what I set out to do when I got my first job.
- I’m going to be moving from a semi-urban district to a much more suburban environment.
- I’m going to be moving from middle school to elementary school.
- I’m going to be leaving special education to work with a much wider portion of the student body.
In my darker moments, I’ll admit, it feels like I’m selling out. While I know that my new position will have its own challenges, I have to admit that those areas highlighted above feel important, and it feels like I’m abandoning them.
That being said, I’m super-excited about the possibilities for my new job. I’ve already had more facetime to make meaningful decisions with my new principal than I did in seven years in my previous building. I get to help spend money and direct the future use of technology in my building. I can finally let my imagination run wild with possibilities for things to try when given access to technology because I don’t have any scripted programming to deal with. I’ll get to help other teachers make their great classrooms even greater. I’ll have time to meet with tech people throughout the district for larger coordination. I have a principal that’s as excited about technology as I am and wants to try new stuff just as much as I do. I’m going to be in a great district with an excellent superintendent. Their have smart filtering that actually leaves the stuff I want to use open.
It’s time for a change, and, concerns aside, this really does seem like the right change for me at this time. I think this is the step I need to take in order to continue my quest to become a great teacher.
June 21st, 2010 at 5:40 pm
I have a blog post in the works about my passion for teaching. It was inspired by a quote I heard in a TED video, though I can’t remember who said it…
It was also inspired by my recent job change. I used to teach students in grades 10 and 11 at an alternative program, kids who were at risk to not graduate high school but were identified as bright, needing a different environment. I now teach French in an elementary school and at first I too thought that I was abandoning important ideals, ones I held close, by leaving that job. Soon into my new job I began to make connections with my colleagues and with my students. I realized that I was still excited about helping kids to learn, though in a different way. And I remembered, it is not my job that defines me but me that defines my job. And then I heard the line on TED, “passion exists inside you, not inside a job.” And I realize that everything is going to be ok because I love and am passionate about working with kids and teachers.
Tracy Rosen´s last [type] ..June in a sentence
June 21st, 2010 at 10:57 pm
Once a special educator always. You will be able to really get assistive technology for students needing it. I grew up in Philly and I miss the area. I left many years ago. My next step is to become and Educational Therapist/Technology specialist when I retire in a few years.
June 22nd, 2010 at 6:50 am
[...] has been in the works for a couple of weeks now and was coaxed out by Dan Callahan’s post One for the Record Books over at Geek.Teacher. His post reflects on the mixed feelings he has around changing schools, [...]
June 22nd, 2010 at 8:43 am
Great post. I’m really excited for you. Change can be tough, but it can bring out the best in people. I can’t wait to read all about the new adventures you will have at your new job. Good luck and thanks for all of the help getting edcamp Detroit off the ground.
- Nick
Nicholas Provenzano´s last [type] ..#ISTE10 Irrational Fears
June 22nd, 2010 at 9:36 am
[...] tweet and blog post by another teacher this busy morning brought me up short. As teachers, we make job changes less [...]
June 22nd, 2010 at 6:37 pm
Hi Dan,
I think Karen J pointed out to you that I made a similar move, from Speech Language Pathologist to ITS. I was and am still conflicted about it, but I think you (we) have seized a really great opportunity. I feel now like I am doing more consulting, and it’s true what people say that your skills and approach won’t go away, but will inform everything you do. Teaching people about technology is in some ways like teaching someone who is learning through the challenging screen of a disability- or learning a foreign language. I think you will find that your techniques and sense of what is needed for kids and teachers to “get it” (e.g. visuals, repetition, models, clearly stated and written steps) will make you a natural.
On my part- I made it through the first year. Next year one of my goals is to be more of a resource to the special educators in the building. They don’t ask for much, and I could give a lot more!!
Have a great summer and good luck in your new job.