I know, I know, I know - I set the stage for another hunting post and here you are with high hopes for deer stories and hunting philosophies and all you're going to get is a short blog that has nothing to do with hunting. I'm confident my loyal readers will understand - in fact, tonight's topic will probably apply to all three of them.
Tonight I attended what very well may be the final for-credit class I ever take. One should never say never, but as I look at the moldy tea leaves at the bottom of my cup I see no reason why I would ever take another class for credit. With the credits I earn from this class I will shift into the most sought-after position on a teacher's pay scale: the bottom right corner. Being a dweller of the bottom right means many things. I'm old and overeducated. I'm earning as much as I can from the district I'm working for. I'm done taking credits.
I remember watching my high school social studies teacher/basketball coach leaving after practice (as I dedicatedly stayed in the gym to take a few hundred extra shots - toot toot!) with his book bag slung over his shoulder on his way to a night class. I admired his drive but wanted no part of his work-all-day-take-classes-at-night routine. I've done that routine off and on for the last 15 years. Twenty five years if we count my college days prior to getting a teaching job. But no more.
I have an Associate of Applied Science degree, a Bachelor's degree, and a Master's degree. I have 45 credits beyond my Master's. I have grades on transcripts from six different universities in three different states. I have spent thousands of dollars, read countless books and journal articles, written hundreds of pages, and driven every available direction on a compass. I have given speeches and presented power points, worked in groups and worked alone, written in APA and MLA. I have gone to class in shorts and flip flops and had classes cancelled because of blizzards. But no more.
Young teachers, or even younger not-yet teachers, hear this message: Get to that bottom right corner. I was told the same thing when I first started teaching and for a few years I wanted no part of the journey I have now taken. It's tough to come out of college and go right back into it, but the end will be worth the plunge. Some thoughts to consider, youngsters, about your career and advancement:
**Get tenured, then get busy on advancement. The first years of your career are your toughest. Pour yourself into your teaching without taking on anything else. Once you've survived to tenure status you can consider adding more to your plate.
**Taking classes because you want to is far different from taking classes because you have to. When I started taking graduate classes I was stunned at how ready I was to learn, much more so than when I was an undergrad.
**There will never be a right time to take a class. Next year won't be less busy. When your kids are older won't be easier than when your kids are younger. Register, pay, and go. Hesitation killed the monkey.
**The right class can energize your career. It might be the message, the instructor, the connections made with classmates. If you're lucky it's all three.
**Don't let money stop you. Whatever you pay will come back to you, and then some. I absolutely did NOT want to start my Master's when I did - one young child, another one baking, and an unfinished basement seemed like better uses for my money - but I've made thousands of extra dollars because I got that degree far earlier than I had planned.
**Even more valuable than the money (but not much more) is the level of thinking I've reached through these years of extra studies. Undergraduate classes get you ready for your career (sort of), but graduate classes get you thinking about your career, and also get you thinking about your thinking. Meta-cognition is a powerful drug.
Done with classes, yes. Done with learning, not even close. I'm already sensing a freedom to learn, as if I've been driving towards that MA+45 sign for so long that being past it allows me to see the wide open possibilities that now line the road I'm on. Ugh, that reads badly. Or I'm reading badly. Or writing badly. Or fading fast. It's been a long journey towards this night - I need an extended nap. And some hunting.
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