Hey all! It's Tuesday night and time for the DIDS, short for "Damn, I Did Something." It's a chance for all of us to offer up the cool and awesome things we have DONE in the past week.
I haven't been posting up regularly (or even sporadically, for that matter), but tonight I have cool news: I got a new job yesterday!
The new job is a promotion of sorts. For the past five years, I've taught in an International Baccalaureate Middle Years Program (IBMYP) here in North Carolina. The long-time IBMYP coordinator is retiring and next year I'll be taking her position. This is big for many reasons:
--I'll be leaving the classroom after 15 years of full-time teaching (something I never pictured myself doing).
--Though I've changed jobs several times over the years, this is the first time I'm changing jobs in order to change the direction of my career. All past job changes were because I was relocating, moving from one area of the country to another. (That's both empowering and scarey!)
--I'll be working out of a new building. IBMYP covers grades 6-10. 6-8 are housed in the middle school. 9-10 are in the high school. The coordinator is based at the middle school. (This means leaving a co-workers and students of whom I'm quite fond)
As I end the school year and close the door (for now) on classroom teaching, I find myself thinking of all the things I'll miss next year: daily interactions with fifteen year olds, watching young people grow as writers and thinkers, reading student writing, discussions of literature, etc. Then, I also think of the things I WON'T miss: daily interactions with fifteen year olds, dealing with discipline issues, taking away cell phones and keeping track of tardies, grading endless stacks of papers, etc.
The best thing to do, I suppose, is focus on the possibilities of the new position: a chance to support teaching and learning in lots and lots of classrooms (thereby touching lots and lots of students), having my very own office (I can't tell you how excited I am at the prospect of an office to call my own), mentoring and coaching new teachers, influencing curriculum development, traveling around the country and the world as I get more involved in the world of IB, etc.
Ok...'nuff of my news! What are the other DIDS out there? Hope ya'll have some fun stuff to share!