From Some-time to Full-time

Photo by Eric Olson

As things normally go in the teaching world, my most recent position came at me with little to no warning and started almost immediately. Before I could organize my fall plans and gather my other teaching gigs together into a nice pile, Lindblom Math and Science Academy violently trashed all of those neat little piles into a giant mess; in a good way.

Since graduating from high school, I knew that getting my teaching certification in dance to teach in a public school was my goal. I never strayed from this path, and although it took quite a bit of time longer than expected, I am thankful for my current situation. I have a wonderful department that is extremely supportive of my aspirations and goals for the school, and I am thrilled that I get to share my knowledge and creative juices with their students. Unlike other high school dance teachers, I get to maintain my position with The Dance COLEctive because the school supports outside professional practice and does not require its teachers to produce X amount of shows per year, and stay after school for X amount of hours to make that happen. I am a part of a Fine Arts Department and NOT a Physical Education Department  which can be like finding gold for teachers who have the same philosophy as I do. Being a part of a Fine Arts Department allows me to experiment. It allows me to create projects with my students that they truly care about, even though they might have never danced a day in their life. It allows me to collaborate, create, and stumble upon new ways of doing things. P.E. Departments, for the most part usually already have a set way of doing things and awful requirements such as fitness testing (which does not align with my teaching philosophy) that I would have to administer. We all remember those, yuck! The besy benefit of all: I get to create my OWN curriculum. I don't have to follow anyone else's rules, I don't have students telling me "well, Ms. so-and-so did it this way." I made it out of thin air, which was not an easy feat, but it's mine and it is constantly changing and growing. It is something I will use forever, and I am grateful to have said I have done it, but you will hear more about that in my next post.

The hard part about being a full-time teacher, especially in my specific situation, is that I am the only dance teacher in the department so I don't have a counterpart to offer ideas or feedback. I had to create the entire curriculum alone, which I also now have to constantly adapt and update while learning all the new systems Lindblom uses at the same time. I also have to keep my other jobs under wraps (TDC and a studio in the suburbs I have worked with for years). I really have no time to stop and catch a breather because besides all of that, I have to make sure I haven't forgotten about friends and family!

I have found that no matter how much work you have to do, it's important to remain social, keep doing the things you enjoy, and there may be times you just need to quit what you're doing and go to bed at 9:30... sometimes it's for the better. Overall, I wouldn't change anything about the opportunity I have been handed. I know this will be my hardest year yet, but the learning experience I will gain, and the arsenal of knowledge I will own, will be priceless. 

Submitted by TDC Dancer Madelyn Doyle, Tuesday, October 15, 2013.