Please Profread!

As an English teacher, I have a chance to be critical of others' mistakes on a semi-frequent basis.

Some of my favorites:

A process analysis essay explaining "how-to" make the perfect bowl of cereal. "Open the panty and see which cereal looks best." Lucky Charms, anyone?

A newspaper article explaining procrastination. "Grab a handful of potato ships and dig in."

Funny. It's good to be me.

"I love Women and Beer"

Today was my first day with students.  I had them fill out a little survey.  At the end of a long day I was reading over some of their responses.  One charmer from my first hour class wrote (in response to my question, "What is one thing you really want me to know about you?"): "I love Women and Beer."  Honestly.  So, the first day of school I had to make a phone call to a parent. Awesome.  It's good to be me.  

What To Do

Some of you may know that I was offered a full time job in the Alumni Office at Snow College. The job was offered fairly casually, but after a little bit of questioning I discovered the seriousness of the offer. It pays more, but also requires me to work full time (during the summer too...shocker! How would that be? :)

Earlier this week I sat down with the principal to talk about my options. Mostly, I wanted to figure out what my future will be like at JHS before I turn my back on it. I expressed a desire to teach AP English and Humanities. He told me that I am next in line to teach those courses.

This is a BIG deal because veteran teachers are usually those who get those classes, but I am the one in the department with a Masters degree (or at least the one who WILL have it) and that means I am the most academically qualified. It's a great thing to have on my resume, and something that I would not have a chance to do at most other schools. If I were to leave now, I would be take a salary penalty and I would be making the school scramble to replace me. Now is NOT the time to tell a school I am not coming back; I would barely be giving 2 weeks' notice.

The job at the alumni office appeals to me because it is new, in a college environment, and the pay is about $10,000 more a year. I would also have better medical and dental benefits than those I have in Nephi. The job is high profile and high stress. My pay could increase based on performance, or I could be let go for poor performance. It seems like an easy choice, but I find myself questioning my ability to make good choices. I love teaching. At the end of the day, it brings me joy. I love having summers free and I love interacting with students on such an insightful level.

I talked to Nicki Blair today and she told me much of what I already know in my heart: I am a teacher. She believes the appeal of Snow comes because I would be doing something new and working with people I love, but that the novelty would wear out pretty quickly. She's right. It seems so basic, but Nicki knows my heart more than most. I love the challenge that teaching is, and as long as new students walk into my classroom, I will always have that challenge.