Curve Ball

A week ago, I was coming off my honeymoon high and reentering reality. Although I'd worked in the admissions office at Grandview for a few weeks over the summer, I still considered myself to be starting a new job when I arrived on campus last Monday. But I became comfortable almost right away, if not with the work ahead of me, at least with the people around me. Everyone was so welcoming, so supportive, and so concerned with just how I was holding up.

After the first day, I was overwhelmed by the tasks ahead of me, but I couldn't think of a better place in which to be this overwhelmed!

On Tuesday, I started to get my feet planted more firmly on the ground. I wasn't quite sure how to do everything I needed to do, but I did at least know what things needed to be done. I made my lists – to do, to get, to think about – and I asked my questions. The kids were going to be arriving on campus the very next day, and, while I knew I was overwhelmingly unprepared, I also knew the best way to make my preparations was to simply take my tasks one little baby step at a time.

I was just starting to feel some confidence in this plan, when my boss, Tiffany, walked into my classroom. I assumed she'd just come to check on me and make sure I wasn't getting ready to run! But instead, she brought some interesting news and one very unexpected question:

“Charlotte, as you may know, the 6th grade class has gotten too big for us to be able to keep them all together all day long. We are splitting them for certain classes, and this has caused some of the 6th grade teachers to have too many classes on their schedules. So, I'm wondering what you would think of taking a full-time teaching position...”

I was shocked to say the least, and I had no idea how to respond. On one hand, I originally applied at Grandview because I want to teach, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity. But on the other hand...oh, on the other hand! The kids were coming the next day, I was out of time to prepare, I was already feeling overwhelmed by my first three classes, and I just couldn't see where I'd find the time in my day (or night) to plan for five classes. Now, I certainly realize that most teachers (even first-year ones) teach this many classes, and it's not that I think I can't handle something like that; it's more about the fact that I'd been planning on three, and now I was about to get five! Plus, I'd already spent almost a month in the admissions office, where I'd learned the ropes and even made friends. It was going to be hard to give that up. But when I turned it back around, it was going to be hard to give up this opportunity to do what I'd been trying to do from the beginning, not to mention summers off!

This decision was 100 percent my choice. Tiffany left me alone in my classroom, and I thought about it all afternoon (not even making an attempt to get any of my other work done). And the thing I kept coming back to, after running through everything else over and over and over in my head, was: This is the opportunity I've been waiting for, and what luck! I'd only had to wait a month or so! I'd waited for three long years at the bank and finally had to say, “You snooze, you lose” to those folks!

So I took the full-time teaching position, and I am now prepping for five classes every day. I am thrilled about teaching and all that goes with it, even if I do stay at school till 7 pm every night and have resigned myself to working weekends all year long!

No one ever said it was going to be easy, and I really never wanted it to be. So I guess this might be a classic case of “be careful what you wish for.” But I prefer to think of it as a baseball game. Tiffany threw me quite the curve ball, and I can't wait to see the look on her face when I blast that ball right out of the park!