Today was the student teacher celebration, and as I told Marilyn (who was my student teaching advisor) "I can’t believe this was me, a year ago."  We hosted it in our room, because we had one of the student teachers and because we have a large room.  It was great, I made fun of the plastic sleeves and apple-themed paper of their portfolios (under my breath, to Marilyn, who totally Gets It) and after everyone cleared out, Marilyn and I had a long conversation.  I had mentioned to her back in October that I was already feeling like this was my last year, and we didn’t get to talk about it until this afternoon.  My coteacher was in a meeting, and I got to tell Marilyn alllll of the things going on, and how basically they are rolling back the clock at my school and middle school philosophy is being totally undone.  I talked about how my program is pretty much guaranteed to not exist next year, in the pursuit of a more "academics focused" setup, which is total bullshit because it’s not what’s best for kids.  It’s just not.  Academics are important, don’t get me wrong, but to roll back to a junior high model is not right.  I am still pissed that middleschoolers don’t get RECESS.  If ever kids needed recess, it’s in middle school. ANYWAY.

I talked about my plans, about wanting kids and grad school and doing something, and how while I was totally thankful for the experience of classroom teaching, it was never what I wanted to do.  That I landed the job on my third day of student teaching was something I never expected to happen, and it has afforded me some great things.  I am teaching in a laptop classroom!  I advocated HARD for the MLTI way back when I was in Americorps, and I’m the only alum that has seen the whole thing come to fruition.  I am an MLTI teacher. I would not have had that experience if I was in one of the 49 other states, or teaching at one of the 11 other grade levels. That’s damn cool.  I was also able to afford to pay off my debt, marry my husband, and buy a house. All good things.  However, it wasn’t what I planned and isn’t my final destination.

Classroom teaching was an unexpected surprise, for sure.  And it takes up a lot of my mind, body and soul.  And it’s easy to get caught up in it and think about doing the easy thing and taking my continuing contract in March and spending the rest of my life in that room. But it’s not my PASSION. Technology is my passion.

I explained all of that to Marilyn, and mentioned that I see myself teaching adults — the community college has a paraprofessional program, and I think it would be great for paras to be comfortable with technology, especially when they work with SED kids most of the time.  Or, I could see myself doing in-service days as a consultant, or being a tech trainer for a district or company.  Basically, technology is my goal.

Hearing all of this, Marilyn was agreeing with what I had to say.  She was the person who was the most influential in landing my job, and the student teacher I had in my room resented me a bit, I think, because "Marilyn always talks about you; you’re like her golden student."  (of course, this is the same student teacher who said "Now, rural and urban . . .  urban is like a city, right?" so take it with a grain of salt.)  She started talking about people she knew– "have you talked to E.B.? Or ever talked to J.L.?" and I knew of both of them, but hadn’t talked to them before.  E.B. is a big middle level/technology advocate on campus, and J.L. is a former administrator (He was Dave’s VP in middle school, and Marilyn worked with him) who now works for corporate education programs — corporations that want to "give back" to their communities hire him to go around the country and work to improve things.  I’ve seen him speak, and LOVE him and his ideas, but I’m not on a first name basis.

"What you need to do, Gretchen, is be teaching teachers about this stuff."  Marilyn started brainstorming.  "You could be an extension person, and spend time all over the state going out to others, because there will always be people who don’t go to trainings . . .  or, you could do the consulting stuff. Would you mind if I mentioned you to a few people?"

HELL. NO.

So, Marilyn, who adores me and Gets It, is going to be talking to people she knows about what a catch I am. This rocks in SO MANY WAYS.  If even a GA position comes from this networking, that’s great.  I left feeling really positive about my future, and where I’m going. 

And now I’m hoping for a snow day so I can finish my grad school coursework and midquarter grades. Wish with me, will you?

(BabyQuest update behind the cut.)

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