With the beginning of this week, I found myself teaching English at Waltham High School. Currently, I am in the probationary phase of what may become my full-time gig for the remainder of the school year. Since a lovely young teacher was on the verge of bursting with baby, the local school desperately needed a replacement. In the kind of strange happenstance I recently found lacking in my life, I stumbled upon this fabulous opening.
So often, life is strange alchemy. This situation was no exception. I responded to an advertisement, but went that extra mile. Being unsure of whether I would be considered as a permanent substitute for the aforementioned maternity leave, I sought the daily grind of subbing wherever the district would have me. This guided me to the district coordinator and she was to become my biggest advocate. She pressed the English Chair to interview me, because I needed to speak with someone even before I could substitute on a daily basis. So, I was pursuing both opportunities all at the same time to cover my bases and earn some desperately needed bread. Fortune gazed kindly upon me.
Before I knew it, I interviewed on a Friday and was asked to come back Monday to observe. That Monday I was in the classroom getting a crash course in everything from what is being taught to where the bathroom is – which required a key incidentally. A day later, Tuesday, I was front and center and leading six classes of adolescents as their English teacher.
While I have been working towards this inevitability, I had now idea it would happen in such a dramatic fashion. As it stands, things look imminently good. Barring some unforeseen calamity, I will be molding young minds for the remainder of the year. It has been a remarkable journey in a short span of time. Now all I have to do is construct a long range plan and schedule to stay a step ahead of the students while working the classroom at the same time. Welcome to teaching, I guess.
Most ironic of all is that in the two and half months I have been in New England all my previous inquiries for employment had fallen on deaf ears. Then, in less than twenty-four hours, I found myself with three scheduled interviews and my current probationary offer. Two of the calls came within five minutes of each other while I was preparing for the interview that got me the current gig. To say that this was a turnaround is an enormous understatement.
Nevertheless, I still have to prove my mettle and lock up a chance in the classroom. This time next week, that should be the case.
And, of course, Happy Birthday to my main mate Dave. Look out Indy, the geezer’s on the loose and leaving a trail of broken boards and knuckles in his aging wake! Good Luck under the knife.