So I guess if I've learned one lesson in the past 2 years, it's don't pick such a specific blog URL. Don't include the place you live in the address, because who knows how long you'll even be there. Also don't put your job title in there either, because you could change jobs. Twice. Or become unemployed. Twice. Life is very dynamic. You have to be adaptable. So now I've gone ahead and changed it again - to Jen Teaches Something - because I am completely in love with teaching itself, but I now know that I could teach many things. And I want to.
It's really unfortunate that along the winding path of my blogs, I didn't stop and document my brief, yet awesome, stint at Miller Grass. Then it could have been Jen Sells Grass, and that would make me happy.
So anyway, now it's this, and that's because I think I've found my calling in life. Well, actually I know I have. I knew before school even started when I was just attending New Teacher Orientation and now that I've actually done it for a tiny bit, I am happier than I have ever been. I can't wait to go back every day... but that 3-day weekend sure was nice. I feel like I am improving in leaps and bounds, and by next year when this isn't my first rodeo anymore I'll be the best teacher imaginable, finally.
Right now I'm teaching Business Information Management (BIM) and Banking and Finance. So basically I teach Microsoft Office and Personal Finance/Life Skills. It really couldn't be more perfect because I know all about these things, and I think it's REALLY important that young people know them. It's just the two perfect subjects for me to teach, and at the perfect place. West Mesquite High School... the mostly unknown red-headed step-child of Mesquite schools. So many people I talked to who I went to high school with said they didn't think they had ever been inside West Mesquite. It makes sense, because West is 4A and North is 5A, so we never played each other in sports or anything, but still you would think we'd have somehow been inside all the high schools just growing up around Mesquite. I realized after I got inside the first time that I had actually been inside West before, for OM maybe, and for Young Writers' Workshop in junior high. But even though we didn't really know much about the school, West didn't have a good name to us. We all knew people who had disappeared after middle school to become West Mesquite Wranglers, of all things, and were never to be seen again (until the advent of Facebook).
But I had an open mind, as one is wont to do when they are in dire need of employment. Especially when they inadvertently stated in the opening line of the email they sent to the principal of West that they knew that they "would be a great addition to the Horne High School staff". Because they did not proofread before hitting send, as a truly good prospective employee would have done. And ESPECIALLY after they sent the second email, sheepishly acknowledging the mistake. Principal Adams really flattered me on the phone, and even though at first I had been planning to teach Math, he wanted me to come interview for a sudden opening he had in Business. I could tell he wanted to hire me right off the bat, but I was reluctant, having set my heart on Algebra. Then I remembered that Adam Tarpley, a friend from high school who is also good college buddies with Angela's husband Chris, also taught Business at West. After speaking with him it sounded like a fantastic job, and once I met Principal Adams I was sure I would be happy there. So I took the job.
I feel like West is my adoptive alma mater, or maybe just MISD in general because I just love all the kids I see in Mesquite. I just want them all to be so successful and happy and for good things to happen to them. Most of these kids have little hope of higher education, and I want to give them chances they didn't think they had. I want to equip them for life, and I want to help them succeed. It's a really fun job, and the kids are just poor, they're not ruined. They need attention and advice from someone who was once in their place and who has become successful. And that is me. Isn't it obvious why I love my job? I get to be a know-it-all for money. And I get to do cutesy, clever themes and stuff, because it's MY classroom. It's just a whole lot of fun. And I don't work that much.*
*Or at least I won't after I get my first year under my belt. :)
I feel like West is my adoptive alma mater, or maybe just MISD in general because I just love all the kids I see in Mesquite. I just want them all to be so successful and happy and for good things to happen to them. Most of these kids have little hope of higher education, and I want to give them chances they didn't think they had. I want to equip them for life, and I want to help them succeed. It's a really fun job, and the kids are just poor, they're not ruined. They need attention and advice from someone who was once in their place and who has become successful. And that is me. Isn't it obvious why I love my job? I get to be a know-it-all for money. And I get to do cutesy, clever themes and stuff, because it's MY classroom. It's just a whole lot of fun. And I don't work that much.*
*Or at least I won't after I get my first year under my belt. :)
