Filed under: Commentary
While hunting for a job, I happened across this essay, which reminded me why I want to teach. A brief excerpt (I chose this one essentially at random–there were several others equally worthy of highlighting):
They work with kids who are a mixture of self-absorption, insecurity, raging hormones, and ambition. They may have to face parents who want their offspring to get into the Ivy League and have jobs they can boast about, but the teachers’ job is to help their students build a self, create the entity that will be their company throughout their lives. That’s why the best teachers listen to students and draw out their thinking, but don’t try to solve every problem. That’s why the best teachers empathize and care deeply about the individual, but never lower standards or expectations.
I didn’t really make New Year’s resolutions this year, but I guess an unofficial one might be to utilize this thing a bit more. I went strong with it for about a year or so (I think it was about a year), but in the last six months or so, the old blog has taken a backseat to more pressing concerns. Nevertheless, I still find myself hundreds–or in some cases, thousands–of miles from many of my closest friends, and so I need to be more diligent in posting.
Anyway, I have no idea where I’m going to be in six months and it’s starting to freak me out a little bit. A while back I posted about where I thought I’d be in five years, but five years is really pretty abstract. But six months? That ain’t nothin’. I think it hit me yesterday as I was looking around the apartment thinking, “Man, I’ll be glad to be out of this place in six months.” And then I stopped. SIX MONTHS?!
Six months ago was the beginning of August, and it almost feels like yesterday. Which means that August of ‘08 is essentially tomorrow. And I don’t know where I’ll be living. Right now, the options are as follows:
a) Richmond
b) Nashville
c) Northern Virginia
d) Savannah
e) None of the above
I’ve been pounding the pavement (figuratively speaking, of course), searching every nook and cranny of the internet for teaching jobs. I’m also working with a major national placement agency that is based out of Boston, and I have had a few pretty good leads. I sent letters to about fifteen schools that I am interested in, and most of them sent me form letters telling me that they’d keep my resume on file. A couple of them followed up with personal notes, which is somewhat encouraging, but really… who knows if they’ll even have an opening?
Emily and I would love to get back to Virginia, but I’m starting to get to the point that I’m open to just about anything. I don’t want to be too desperate, but the agency sent my file to schools in New Orleans and Miami, and where a couple of months ago I would have said, “Yeah, I’m really not interested in those,” I’m suddenly thinking, “Miami might be cool for a couple of years.” (Similarly, we drove to New Orleans this past weekend for Mardi Gras thinking we had no interest in living there and we left thinking “That could be fun.”)
I’ve also had a couple of pretty good phone interviews, and I even had an on-campus interview with a school in Richmond that I think pretty well. Of course, that was about a month and a half ago and I haven’t heard from them yet, so who knows what will come of that?
The thing is, it’s actually pretty early in the hiring season for independent schools. Many of them won’t even know whether or not their current teachers will be returning for next year until March 1st, and from what I can gather, most hiring is done in March and sometimes into April and beyond. But I’ve been at this game for a couple of months now, and I still don’t really have a clue about my fate. Quite frustrating, really.
It would be great to know where I’ll be next year, because that would allow Emily and I to figure out several things: what exactly we’re going to be doing, where we’re going to live, when we need to move, and how we need to move.
I’m registered to attend a job conference in Atlanta next Friday and Saturday, so hopefully I’ll be able to interview with a number of schools over a couple of days and walk away with some more substantial leads. I’ll keep you posted.
My semester is shaping up to be a very busy one. Between job hunting and trying to figure out wedding things (Emily will laugh when she reads this, given the disparity in time she and I have put into wedding planning) as well as studying for my comps, interning 10 hours/week at a history magazine, and TAing for a professor who assigns two papers, three exams, and weekly web postings, my plate is pretty full.
That said, there is light at the end of the graduate school tunnel (three months to go!) and I’m starting to realize that as much as I’ve complained about grad school, there are definitely things I’ll miss when I have to get a real job. Like getting off at noon on Fridays, for example. Of course, that alone isn’t quite enough to make me consider staying, but you get the idea.
In any event, I think that’s enough rambling and venting for now. Hopefully that gives you some indication of my life of now, and I hope that this finds you all doing well.
Filed under: Commentary
It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.
Yes we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.
Yes we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.
Yes we can.
It was the call of workers who organized; women who reached for the ballots; a President who chose the moon as our new frontier; and a King who took us to the mountaintop and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality.
Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.
Yes we can heal this nation.
Yes we can repair this world.
Yes we can.
We know the battle ahead will be long, but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way, nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.
We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics–they will only grow louder and more dissonant. We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check. We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope.
We will remember that there is something happening in America, that we are not as divided as our politics suggests, that we are one people. We are one nation, and together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story with three words that will ring from coast to coast; from sea to shining sea:
Yes. We. Can.