Inaugural Post -- Autumn Change

Maybe the last class I will ever teach.  Maybe.

Disclaimer: my style is random and rambling (check out my other blog: roccomaiolo.blogspot.ca if you don't believe me).

So as the caption says, this is the last class I might ever teach.  They were this past 2012 semester 2 grade 12 University English, one of the nicest classes I've ever taught (but that's maybe not saying much -- I've taught a lot of awesome kids).


I've been teaching for 25 years -- the first year as a supply teacher for the Niagara Public and Catholic boards; the next 19 at Fort Erie Secondary; and the last 5 at Eden High School.  

I've been very fortunate in my career changes.  At one point I thought I'd be a lifer at Fort Erie.  But my daughter came to school with me one day when she was in grade 9 for what we call, in Ontario, Take Your Kids to Work Day.  On the car-ride home that November day in 2004, my daughter said to me, "Dad, you know I wouldn't mind if you taught at Eden... ."  The thought had never occurred to me that my three children would not mind having Dad as a teacher in their school. In fact, I had passed up applying for a headship several years earlier at Eden High School with the thought that it wouldn't be fair to my kids.  And here my kid was telling me she wouldn't mind.

That evening I asked our other two kids who were in grades 5 and 7 at the time what they thought.  They both said they wouldn't mind either.  So when the job came up 4 years later, I applied and got it.  I've had the privilege of teaching my middle child twice and the honour of giving my youngest child pizza money when he forgot his lunch and rides home when he missed the bus.  I also had the pleasure of many impromptu parent-teacher interviews in the halls between classes.

Several years away from retirement, I thought I was done with change.  But I had the hankering to mentor younger teachers -- a role which my former principal kept informally putting me in.  This past year I was involved as the coach/facilitator in what our board calls the TLP (the Teacher Learning Project -- a collaborative project in which teachers cycle through planning lessons together, co-teaching and debriefing).  I thought this new role would take me through to retirement.

In the last two years, however,  I vacillated between thinking, I'm done.  I'm pretty close to retirement.  I've got a great gig here at Eden.
And
Maybe if the English/Literacy Consultant position comes up, I'll apply.  

Long story short, starting in September 2012 I'll be working in the above mentioned position -- I've actually been getting my feet wet since I got the job in April by attending literacy meetings and planning meetings for next year.

 'It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.' 

- Confucius

So that's a long, rambling way to make this point: I've made this change late in life, and that's okay.  I feel excited by this new challenge.  I feel like my teaching experience and my life leadership goal have all prepared my for this consultancy.

Allow me to explain the latter point. Several years ago, I attended a leadership summit.  A speaker challenged us with this:  If you consider yourself a leader in any way shape or form, you should be able to articulate your leadership mandate in one sentence.  After considering this for some time, I came up with this: my goal is to help people to get better.  My true north is participating in someone's growth/change; helping people take the next step. That's what I'd like my life to be about both professionally and personally.

That, coupled with this blog's theme: give me one more track (ie. a musician's plea to the recording engineer to give her another try because she's got something better, something more creative up her sleeve or the notion of not being satisfied with not changing), are the ideas that will drive this blog.