Decisions

Life has a way of working out. Maybe it’s just fate or maybe it’s making the right decisions at the right times. I have been very fortunate in many ways. I seemed to usually make the right decisions that placed me in a good position to advance in my profession.

Odds were against me graduating from college. As I have written before, I jumped from one major to another. As a business major I found the course work easy but boring. As a physical education major I was uninspired. Although I could have done the course work in English I lacked a lot of confidence in that area. Elementary education seemed to be the place I could make the biggest difference.

For years people asked me if I was either going to take classes and work up to being a high school teacher or become an administrator. I was a little offended and replied “no way” to both questions. I loved teaching and couldn’t see myself doing anything else.
I was offended that some people thought that you had to have more training to be a secondary teacher. My teaching license is k-9 so I could teach high school classes. I did teach junior and high school classes in Mt. Pleasant School District’s summer school program. Generally, secondary teachers are content area experts while elementary teachers are generalists with expertise in the delivery of instruction.
Since I didn’t have much respect for many of the administrators I worked with, I was offended that people would think I would want to be one of them. I did work with a few good ones and was grateful for the opportunity. Some weren’t good teachers in the first place and so it was pretty difficult for them to supervise and evaluate teachers.
As I continued to take classes however I began to entertain options. I wondered where all of the education would take me. I knew I could be happy being a fourth grade teacher the rest of my life. I can’t say increased pay wasn’t a factor because, of course, it was. I’ll explain more in a minute.
As I continued to take classes, I decided to take enough courses to get a principal’s license in case I ever wanted to be one. I deliberately avoided getting a degree in school administration and stuck with being a generalist with an emphasis on reading. I thought that perhaps I could be a curriculum coordinator somewhere.
So what caused me to change besides money? Well, one was opportunity. With an advanced degree comes opportunity. Second was family. I felt I my family had endured a lot getting me this far and I owed it to them to make more money.
Maybe the most compelling reason was my frustration with many of the administrators I worked with over the years. I was convinced that it didn’t have to be like that. Lastly, I felt I could have a larger influence on education as an administrator.
Do I regret becoming one? Yes, I miss teaching and relationships with kids, but still think it was the right thing to do. Maybe I’ll teach again?