As I’ve said before, I’m a fan of anyone bad enough to start their name with an indefinite article. Jose at The Jose Vilson asked for some help with his Ginsberg-inspired poetry meme, so here’s my contribution (read his post if it isn’t evident how I’m helping).
I’ve announced it through Twitter and Facebook, but not yet blogwise: I have been hired as a maternity leave school psychologist for next year. I’ll be working at my current school as a psychologist from September through early February, at which point I’ll transition back into my teaching role for the remainder of the year (we’re on the 4×4 block schedule, so it won’t be as traumatic for the kids as it sounds).
In all honesty, a maternity leave position is not how I thought I’d be starting my career in school psychology, especially a position that isn’t even an entire year long. I’m grateful for the opportunity to get some paid experience, though, and wondering if it’s not a blessing in disguise. It’s a low-risk way of entering the field – I’m at the same school at which I’ve taught for eight years, I know the people and the culture, and I’m pretty well-versed in “how things work” around here.
I had my sights set on a full-time tenure-track position from the outset (not necessarily an unreasonable goal in K-12 education), but the more I think about it, the more I think this may be the right position at the right time for me.
–Damian,
who occasionally needs to be reminded he must learn to crawl before he can walk.