Should I stay or should I go now?
That is the question that's been bothering me ever since before Christmas. Here's a text I got the other night:
Wen will i no wat position i mite play & who my captains r
I get stuff like this all the time, not necessarily in text message form, but often verbally. From my players, it usually takes the form of "What up my boy co', you know next year I'm gun be grindin', we're going to beat warren central." Or "Co', I think my cousin (friend, sister's boyfriend, sister's boyfriend's cousin's friend) said he might play next year, we're only gonna have seven guys coming back, so we've got to recruit." "Next year I'm gonna..." "Next year we gonna..." "Next year..."
I get it from my seniors too. "Next year I'll be back to watch y'all play." "Next year I'm gonna try to play at Bellhaven." "Next year my little brother'll be up in here." And from my students, past and present. Mike R. was so upset not to have me for Geometry this semester, but he said "I'll have you for Algebra II next year, right?" Stuff like this happens all the time. And I just keep answering, to my students at least, that I have no idea where I'll be next year. Now, they think that I mean whether I'll be at Weston on or the Greenville Campus, but I don't know what region of the country I'll be in. I'll probably be in country. But to my players, I'm going to try to do everything like I would want it done before me if I were the new coach coming in. But I can't say whether I'm prepping them for another year with me or for a new sort of adventure. I've even contemplated leaving in June, getting a stress-free job somewhere, something in line with what I might want to do more long term, something more sustainable than teaching is for me, and then coming back in October just to coach. I couldn't "officially" coach, and couldn't get paid. But I could run practice and take the bus to games and do all that sort of stuff, and not be totally stressed about it all the time. I could even get a job at Kroger during the day while I'm here, or maybe even sub - probably not. But I guess you never know. Right now, I think that is my tentative plan - get a good farm apprenticeship from June through the end of September, then bust ass back down here to spend one more season as coach before doing something more permanent. Of course, I'll never do this. If I decide it's important enough for me to be here another year, I'll be here 100%, teaching and all the rest of it. Maybe I need to have an ultimatum - let me teach Calc - or Russian - or even just 3 blocks of Algebra II - and I'll stay. If anyone has tried such an ultimatum with their school, let me know how that went. Or maybe I could be more subtle, and just say "well, I have been going back and forth. But I really just hate teaching Algebra I. I've had some offers from some schools back up north where I'd get to teach Calc, and that would be a really big draw for me." Also, if anyone has any such experience with subtlety, let me know how it turned out for you.
Alright, well, assigned blog for Feb 20th is now complete. If anyone has a good idea for assigned wiki post for Feb 20th, let me know.
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4 comments:
Should I stay or should I go now.. Thats a song by the Cure (which was probably your intention) Nevertheless it's impossible to play on Rockband. Even if you are a fake guitar playing superstar like me.
It can work, given that you are a certified math teacher. And it has worked in the past for some of our teachers.
There's a 3rd year TFA at my school who ended up staying because he got ONLY honors English classes. Of course...I'm the one with the cast off classes...but I secretly love my boogers.
I think it could work for you...just suggest it and see where it goes. But do it towards the end when they're putting together the master schedule so it's fresh on their minds.
moss point is calling you ... and it needs a boys soccer coach! ours is leaving after this year.
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