Movin' Right Along...

"Moving right along in search of good time and good news. With good friends you can't lose, this could become a habit. Opportunity knocked once, let's reach out and grab it, together we'll nab it, we'll hitchhike, bus, or yellow cab it! Movin' right along foot loose and fancy free! Getting there's just half the fun come share it with me!'

~Kermit T. Frog and Fozzie Bear

At my elementary school, we had a wonderful music program. We learned so many different songs throughout the years, most of which were performed for parents and family members at the quarterly programs. Patriotic tunes, songs to help organized facts for us, random Neil Diamond. You name it, we sang it. And from this class I learned so much! I know the National Anthem, I know several traditional Jewish holiday songs, I know all the states alphabetically (if I sing it), and I can list all the presidents in order (if I sing it.) There have been many occasions when watching Jeopardy when I have to quickly sing this list to get the right answer. But thank you Mrs. Rice...I always get it.

Active, social and non-traditional education has always worked for me. And it has always helped me teach others as well. As a result, starting tomorrow I will begin to work towards another Masters (lots of people have two, okay? Don't judge.) in Education. I will become certified to teach Montessori and licensed to teach in Ohio. Click HERE to get a brief run down on the teaching philosophy of Maria Montessori. I am a product of Montessori, so are both my siblings, my niece, and both my ladies I nanny, just to name a few. I enjoyed it. I still vividly remember many of my lessons from Montessori (especially rolling up my mat after nap time, the everybody cleans up song, and 'only two cookies only after meals'). I believe in it.

But what got me here? Well, many events culminated to this point. Some good, some bad, some blown out of proportion, but what it briefly boils down to is this: I had grown truly miserable in my job, no one was looking to hire an over educated and under-experienced employee, and a looming 30th birthday helped me focus on what I really need in life. I've applied to about 4 jobs a week for the past year and I realized that I can get another corporate job, but in five years I'll still look into teaching. So why wait any longer.

So that's the short in long of it. But why couldn't I wait until the fall and why did I leave a job when so many are begging for one? Without blaming too much, I offer you a hand full of true stories about my job that made it impossible to stay.

*I was underutilized in my role. I asked my boss for more work. She had a difficult time delegating. I created several projects on my own taking initiative to help organize the office. Beyond their creation, these projects were never utilized, showing a complete lack of middle-management support. To boot, I was asked if I needed an intern to help me with my work load. And then later more employees were hired to fill roles that I was begging to fulfil. I don't mean that people left and others were brought in, I mean that brand new employees were brought in and trained for a job I was already doing and wanting more responsibility with. In particular in my last year the company received a huge grant for SL in the inner-city schools to be implemented. It was suggested that I become the grant manager and lead the new team in the school. The executive director said that "I want her to have nothing to do with this grant". And my boss actually told me that. And I confirmed it later. That only leaves me with the perception that the hard work I put into my job is not trusted.

*Last year there was a regional training for a professional development group of non-educational folk. No one from my department (director, executive director, etc) could make it so I was asked to lead the training. I was so excited. I put a lot of work into my presentation. I went, I taught non-education minded people about service learning, I was feeling great. Half-way through the training the Executive Director barged into the training and excused me. I have never been more embarrassed in my life. And worse yet, he just repeated everything I had already said. Mortified. Again, I was left to feel as though he didn't trust my work. Which, again after a while makes you wonder why you even do it in the first place.

*Then they started fucking with my paycheck. Fuck with me, fuck with my work load...don't touch my money. Especially after I asked for a raise and I was denied, and you hired three new people instead. Don't. Do. It.

So it was time to leave and I did. It's an interesting commentary when you tell people that you quit your job 97% of them respond with congratulatory messages.

And so begins a new era. A great new year, and a great new me. It's all moving very quickly, but my friends and family have been a tremendous support for me. I am AMAZED by how blessed I am to be able to make choices like this. Risky, sure, and it may be that in a year I realize that I have to go back to the drawing board again. But at least I tried. It's all very exciting despite all the uncertainty. And I will never regret this, no matter the outcome. A simple interest meeting at Xavier about this program has led to me quitting my job and starting school. In four short weeks....and so...AWAY WE GO!!!!!

I leave you with a clip of another song I learned in Elementary school. It's a song that I have been singing in my head for the past three weeks. A song that I learned in the 2nd grade. A song I can still sing every word to. (Another day I will write about how teachers are amazing and underappreciated and forever impacting those they cross paths with. Thanks Mrs. Rice).

Thanks for riding along, friends!

xoxo,

ghg~