Changes

I've been writing all morning, trying to wrap my head around a bunch of things that I've been thinking about ever since I read this post by Ombra. It's been difficult, because I'm tending to over-write it. So I'm going to under-write it instead.

• I have become an incredibly negative person.
• I never wanted to be an incredibly negative person.
• I don't believe that I actually am an incredibly negative person.
• I am sick to death of being an incredibly negative person.
• I have stopped being an incredibly negative person.
• I am going to become a high-school English teacher.

Had my "district level interview" on Thursday and I'm now "certifiable" (y'all always knew that was true, didn't you?). The process, starting now, involves me finding schools with vacancies and interviewing with principals. If they like me, they hire me. If they hire me, I start teaching in January.

How does the "incredibly negative person" bit up there relate to being a teacher? Because incredibly negative people shouldn't be teachers. And look where being an incredibly negative person has gotten me: unhappy, alone, lonely, embittered, working as a salesman/shill for a money-hungry corporation. Fuck it.

Plus, I've never been cool enough to justify being so hyper-critical and discerning anyway.

Now, I need a favor from you folks: please, please, please tell me about good teachers. Advice on teaching, anecdotes about good teachers, websites with advice for teachers: anything at all that any of y'all out there can give me. I want to be a good teacher, and I need all the help I can get.

Thanks in advance. I appreciate it!