"The Teaching Gig"

I remember after graduating from college with my education degree and speaking to an acquaintance. "Ah...the teaching gig," he said.  "I was a teacher once too."  Between those lines something rubbed me the wrong way, as though it might just be a "gig" for me too.  Nah man, I'm a lifer. 

I had always envisioned my career trajectory as a teacher, staying at one school, and eventually becoming a head football and/or track coach.  I love having an active lifestyle and was eager to promote a new kind of Physical Education--different from the stereotypical gym teacher in movies who rolls out the dodge balls and then checks out.

I am passionate to see all kids grow in their love for physical activity and living a healthy lifestyle.  I don't want to create an environment where only the athletic students succeed and others feel shamed.  For example... One way I promoted this culture was having the class do push-ups for 30 seconds, instead of trying to do X number of pushups.  That way no one is left watching the "slower" or "weaker" student... everyone is working hard together to improve themselves.

My career started at College Prep Elementary school in St. Paul, MN.  I was the lone full time Phy Ed teacher in a converted strip mall. If I jumped, I could touch the ceilings of our "gymnasium."  The room was decent in size, but carpeted.  It was an exciting way to start my career because I was able to create a program from scratch.  I found such satisfaction in the job and had wonderful working relationships with the staff.  But I kept my eyes peeled for other positions as the job didn't promise to increase too much in salary and the hours were so long there was no margin for coaching.

Teaching at Heritage Middle School

After two years, I interviewed and accepted a part-time position in West St. Paul.  The job was expected to grow into a full-time role.  I got plugged into coaching football right away as a running backs coach for the Varsity squad.  I loved working within a Phy Ed department and actually having co-workers who taught the same things I did! That year I coached wrestling and track and field as well. To our surprise, the following summer, an ESL teaching position opened up at my school.  Sara applied for it, interviewed, and was offered the job.  Now here we were, both working at the same school and starting to envision our careers and lives in this community.  But then things changed.

Baby.  We were expecting Isaac! Now this didn't change much of anything at first, except for Sara's frequency of popcorn cravings, but it eventually led her to find a different job in which she could work full time from home, able to stay at home with Isaac (our son) and still bring in a comparable salary as to what she had been earning as a teacher.  She was so excited about being able to be home with Isaac, but I will never forget the day last summer we went to school and she packed up her classroom.  She had come off such a successful year with her students and felt so invested in the community already.  Walking from her old classroom back to our car, she cried.  Am I doing the right thing?  Am I a failure for choosing not to teach?  She had a lot of doubts, and yet we both knew this was the next thing, and it was right for her.

The big news of this post is that I've recently learned that my teaching position is not being renewed next year due to budget cuts district-wide, and it seems the decision has become quite clear.  I feel frustrated leaving on someone else's terms; my pride would have much preferred that I be the one to make the final choice about leaving.

So for me, I guess teaching was just a gig.  One of the most intrinsically valuable "gigs".  It's been a privilege for me to be a teacher and a coach because of the many teachers and coaches that raised me.  I feel like teaching gave up on me.  There are serious systemic issues within education as it relates to teacher tenure and lack of societal value of non-core subjects like the arts, music, and physical education and health. I will always be an advocate for these areas to be more valued in education.

Practicing with my Flight Sim

Now that I'm onto my CFI training, I have to switch seats!  Up until this point, I have been flying from the left seat (PIC...Pilot in Command).  Now as I learn to be an instructor I have to fly from the right seat, which is where I will be now for probably a long time.  I set up my Saitek flight simulator to do some practice and get used to the controls being on my left.