Ain't no cure for the summertime blues

New year, new template...yes, I did say "new year."

This morning I was browsing idealist.org for jobs, and I ran headfirst into the same conundrum I'd faced before I became a teacher: The jobs that sound the most enticing to me are usually looking for former teachers with two years or more of experience. And, as if I was in a dream, I foggily recalled my original plan: Teach for two years or more and then make the move into the non-profit education industry.

So the song remains the same -- "keeping my options open" -- but as we draw closer to August 1 (the date we can begin to spend our $260 in teacher's choice money and my self-appointed deadline to start doing some more concrete planning for the fall), I'm taking a deep breath and adjusting to the idea that I will probably find myself in a classroom in September.

Pros: If I could mold myself into an awesome writing cluster teacher with no direction whatsoever from my administration, I can certainly mold myself into an even more awesome reading teacher with the adminstration breathing down my neck as they tend to do with reading and math instruction; I'm kind of looking forward to going in with my teacher game face on from Day 1 and a behavior/discipline system so firmly established that I won't be taking any crap from any second graders anymore; I already have some ideas on how to incorporate my marathon training into my instruction as motivation for us all.

Cons: My administration could very well switch my job at the last minute, making me rue the day I was born. (In which case, will I suck it up and take the challenge or just quit?) I may not, in fact, have any idea what I'm doing at all, and my cheery optimism could come crashing down in an ugly mess.

But right now? It's summer, and I have some hard-core relaxing to do.