I graduated from high school when I was 17 years old...June of 1986.
August of 1986 I was a Freshman at Northern Illinois University. I declared my major in July of '86...Special Education. I know I've told this story right here more than once. I had a full scholarship to NIU. Totally fucking awesome. Nothing better than knowing that all I had to do was keep my grades up and my tuition would be paid. I grew up, and my parents lived, less than 5 miles from my dorm. It was really, a perfect situation.
Flash forward to age 41.
In my career I've taught in more than 2 dozen districts and 3 times as many classrooms as: itinerant teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, homebound tutor, substitute teacher (both special education classrooms and regular education classrooms), self-contained teacher of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and special education resource teacher.
Why do I feel like a failure by tossing in the towel? Taking the administrative assistant position at my school feels like a big fail.
On the upside, the benefits package is the best I've been offered since I was 22.
YES WE DID!
AND WE DID THIS TOO!
2 comments:
Congratulations on your new job.
Now you may have better control over the hours you work and could possibly have time to volunteer to work with the people you obviously care a great deal about.
That NIU shit - "totally fucking awesome" indeed. Failure - NOT.
Hardly a failure. Education takes its toll, let alone Special Education. You did what you needed to do for yourself and your family. There is where the success lies.
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