I am leaving my current position at the end of this year. That is a done deal. The commute of 45 miles is in itself a sufficient reason. I have a large number of irons in the fire, and some Virginia public school districts will not even begin interviewing before mid-April or the 1st of May, beyond the original job fair interviews that qualified me to be hired.
So what is my possible dilemma?
So imagine a school on more than 40 acres with woods and paths and water and horses all considered an essential part of the education. Imagine the opportunity to teach humanities classes combining literature and social science and religion and philosophy and the arts, with no more than 20 students in a class lasting 90 minutes, 2 sections of that. Imagine it is progressive, constructivist, with the students feeding into this coming out of Montessori. Imagine it is project based learning, with no standardized tests, and realistically not tests in a traditional sense, with a real focus on the student interests. As a teacher would that excite you?
It excites me. I had a screening interview by phone today, which I think I passed. But even before I know whether I would be invited to visit and teach a lesson, I am likely to be offered a job that is very different - with a high needs population in a setting where there are still external tests.
In this latter setting I would be able to help write the curriculum. I would have strong backing from the administration: I was the first interviewed, immediately invited to teach a sample lesson (after which the students applauded me) and no one else has been interviewed. They do want me.
I would be paid more, conceivably far more. It is a shorter commute. And it would be worthwhile work. Would I dare turn down the firm offer doing important work for the chance of a dream setting?
This is not a hypothetical. It is where I find myself. Know this, as a professional if I accept the latter job, I immediately withdraw from consideration for any other job. And as I will be 69 by the end of this school year, whatever job I take I intend to finish my teaching career there.
Were both positions at the point of firm offers it might be a hard decision.
If I accept the offer I believe to be coming, I exclude any other possibility.
The firm offer will be a challenge for reasons I cannot at this time discuss.
I know that in any setting I can make a real difference. If I did not believe I could I would leave the classroom for good.
I always challenge my students not to limit their dreams.
A part of me wants to role the dice.
The progressive opportunity came almost out of the blue. I had applied over a month ago and heard nothing until this week.
At this point, knowing the one situation is about to come to a close I am not initiating anything else.
It's a dilemma of a sort.
Except that I decided sometime ago that were I offered a job where I knew I could make a difference, had the backing of the administration to take risks to try to engage and motivate the students, where I could be a part of helping build something, I would take it.
So now I wait.
At least I have no more job fairs to attend until I found out about the situation.
Stay tuned.