New Adventures in Employment

You might remember - if you've been following along, and if you haven't you can catch up here - that about a month ago I posted about a trip to Buffalo Narrows.  Part of the trip was to visit to my Brother-in-Law's at his cottage, but only part.  While there I also had a job interview; was offered, and accepted a teaching position.

This is a little frightening for me - Yes, I am a teacher and have taught for about 15 years, but the most recent, full-time, have-my-own-classroom teaching position was about eight years ago: and the last two were temporary, half year contracts.  Back then I had had enough of the profession and needed a break from it.

So for the last eight years I've worked at other things - glamorous jobs such as "Grain handler / Shipper receiver" in a pelleting plant producing cattle feed, "Splitting Saw Operator" in a beef plant, and later "Quality Control Technician" in the same plant.  Amidst these were a few other short term things: "Program Coordinator" for a student summer employment program, "Free-lance Web site designer", etc.

The beef plant that I was working at shut down over a year ago and to support my wife and I, I dusted off my teaching certificate and had myself put on the "substitute" list.  Substitute teaching calls were steady enough to provide a decent income - but not a great deal of security (you can never be certain how many calls you'll receive each month.)  It was a temporary solution at best as I continued to look for something more stable - it did, however, remind me that I DO enjoy teaching.

And then this opportunity presented itself... and I grabbed it!

That doesn't mean that I'm not scared - and with reason:
- Its  been awhile... how much has the profession changed.
- Its quite a distance (700 kilometers) and, for now, I'm moving by myself, since it would be crazy for my wife to walk away from her job until I'm established in this new one.
- and all the other factors of moving to a new community, new position, etc.
However, I'm confident that it will work out.

For the last several days I've been planning the subjects I'll be teaching (Grade 10 & 11 Sciences, Math, Information Processing and a new one for me called "Wildlife Management".   At the moment (well not right this minute - but before I sat down at the computer and again in a few minutes when I finish this) I'm busy packing up the things I'll need to take with me.  A week from tomorrow my wife and I will stuff both cars full of boxes and make the drive, take possession of the house that I'll be renting, and drop off the stuff.  Then we drive halfway back to attend a 3 day "New Teacher Induction" seminar, then back up to Buffalo Narrows to get the house and my new classroom in order as well as exploring the community and the area a bit more.

At the end of that week my wife will half to leave to return to her job, while I stay to start mine (Aug. 24th official start date) and I won't see her - other than the wonders of SKYPE - until the Labour Day weekend - sigh!

It should give me lots to blog about...