I Got The Job

I have been waiting to say those words for four years.

While I didn't anticipate that they would be in reference to a teaching job, it feels good to type them all the same.

On Monday I start as the long-term substitute 7th grade science teacher at a middle school that is nineteen miles from my house. Today I came home to the message from the principal on the answering machine. I called him back to accept the job. He said it took this long to ask me to take the job because it's February vacation week and it took some time to contact my references.

The interview on Friday was as good as any interview for a teaching job I've ever had. I thought I felt a connection and spoke a common language, but with my track record over the last four years I wasn't sure I could trust my gut instinct when it came to how I am perceived and whether or not I am qualified.

It turns out I can. When I sat around a table with the principal, vice principal, guidance counselor, and language arts teacher to talk about teaching 7th grade, it was true that we share a similar philosophy of education. We care about kids, how they develop, and what they need. We agree that the emphasis should be on how we learn and opportunities to demonstrate what we know.

When I applied for this job ten days ago I thought I was beginning the process of returning to teaching. I thought it might take a while to find a position and that I might need to piece together jobs this spring to get my feet under me.

Instead I hit a homerun right out of the box. All indications are that I have landed in a school that cares about students and teachers, a place where it matter that people work together and succeed.

There will be a substitute [for me] in classes on Monday so I can meet teachers and students, get to know the school, and complete paperwork. I have the phone number for the teacher I am temporarily replacing and have been encouraged to call her to see what she can share about students. I have been told many times that the other teachers will help me with anything I need. [In contrast, the last year I taught I went into a classroom that had not so much as a pencil in the desk drawer. When I shyly asked the school secretary how I might go about getting a few supplies, she took a look around the room and said, "She didn't leave you with a thing, did she?"]

I feel hopeful, yet cautious. I feel nervous, yet excited.

It feels like I am beginning again.