Skip to main content

Professional Goals!

So yes, I believe that a working, single mother can have professional ambitions, too.
Today, I met with my principal to discuss professional goals, and I have a few points to make right away that I think merit some recognition here.
First, my principal (and this job, in general) is quite possibly the number one thing that saved me from living a life of destitution after my son was born. The past two years of my life has been an exercise in just how much violent change a person can endure, which, you may be surprised to find out, is actually quite a lot. Through my "barely making it through" days, he has been supportive and understanding in ways I can only describe as superhuman. For that, I am eternally grateful. My confidence has taken about a million hits (rough estimation), and to have an administrator that stands back and says, "I know you can do this" and then gives me the time, space, and support to be successful, is immeasurably valuable. My gratitude can't be adequately expressed.
Second, I feel somewhat like a child again. I feel like at age 30, I should be better prepared to run a classroom and I feel like all of my peers are heads and tails above me where professional development are concerned. I have ZERO levels of Orff completed. This may mean less than nothing to non-music educators who happened to stumble upon this, but it's a big deal to me. I have no official Orff training, no Kodaly training, and just my own ingenuity (and the internet) to steal from where resources are concerned. Considering my recent near-breakdowns, my ingenuity is not what it once was.
Those two points made, our behavioral specialist is saving my butt big time by helping me with all the classroom management pieces that I never had to worry about when I taught at a country school with 26 students. (I miss the rural school environment. I don't miss the pay.)
I want to excel. I don't want to be average or ok. I don't want to muddle through the day and hope. I want to make a difference and inspire my students. I want to open doors for them, impact other professionals, and be a leader. I want to use my gifts in communication, my intelligence and my stubbornness, er, perseverance, to be the positive change I wish to see in the world, even if it is only in little ways that ripple across and through the people I encounter.
My goals.
1) Attend as many music workshops as possible
2) Volunteer when opportunities arise. #learningbydoing
3) Find out how to complete my Orff levels
4) Look into masters degree programs to begin in a few years
5) Become involved in leadership positions in educational organizations and at my school
6) Drive, drive, drive, drive
7) Let faith guide my work
Easy, right?

Edit: 8) Adjust expectations.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Doing the Dishes

“Wash the plate not because it is dirty nor because you are told to wash it, but because you love the person who will use it next.” - Saint Teresa of Calcutta Every night after dinner, Niles does the dishes. Mostly, he stacks them in the dishwasher and runs it, but often he also hand washes the pots and pans, setting them in the drying rack and putting them away later when they've air-dried enough. He always clears the table and wipes it down, making sure everything is the way it was (sometimes cleaner than it was) before we sat down to eat.  At the beginning of our relationship, when he’d do this I felt somewhat at a loss. Doing the dishes had always been my responsibility, along with nearly every other household chore, and I wondered what to do with myself while this other person took care of  it. It was one of many mundane tasks that had always been on my already-full plate and freeing that space felt almost like cheating. A little breathing room felt suffocating in the con...
Post a Comment
Read more

Someday My Prince Will Come

How cliched, I know. When I was young, I was not fussy about relationships. I was low maintenance if there ever was such a thing, in part because of my fierce independent (read: stubborn) streak and a complete aversion to frivolity. I was never the girl who got highlights in her hair and spent hours on clothes and makeup each morning. I shopped at thrift stores and went to school with my hair wet 50% of the time. My requirements for "boyfriend" material were that they hold my hand sometimes and be smart enough to talk to for hours on end. I didn't seek out the best looking, I didn't expect gifts or showering, I understood not being top priority and I didn't need someone to  emotionally support me. I was a tough chick who could take care of herself, thank you very much. It should come as no surprise then, that I married a man who allowed me to take care of everything in our lives. My teenage self would have loved that, being responsible for the house, the bills,...
2 comments
Read more

St. Joseph

Recently, my aunt's brother in law, Tom, passed away. Tom was such a fantastic person - born with Down's Syndrome, he was a joyful and loving light to all who knew him, a blessing to everyone he met. While I was struggling through my divorce, Tom became fiercely protective of me and my three children; and it was shortly after this time that he gave me what appeared to be a purple rosary. At the time, I was deeply touched by this sweet and beautiful gift. It was a testament to his simple, faith-filled desire to pray for me and care for me. How little he knew what a miraculous gift that "rosary" was.  One night, I picked it up and I noticed something peculiar about the rosary. Instead of five groupings of ten beads (each separated by one) it had fifteen groupings of three beads. Curious, I decided to do some research at Google University and discovered that it was actually a chaplet to Saint Joseph. Tom, who wanted nothing more than to protect my family, had inadvertent...
Post a Comment
Read more