Category Archives: On My Mind

On My Mind, Singapore

Please Hire Me.

8 Comments

It’s time I made this public: I’m moving again.

Yup, again. I love Singapore and I love my school. I love my friends here and I love the travel I’ve been doing throughout my time in Southeast Asia. More importantly, I love my department and I love the curriculum we’re developing. I am actually excited to develop this curriculum, which is something I never thought I’d say. We’ve made the decision (and been given permission) to completely redesign the MYP Individuals and Societies courses at school and we’re doing it through a lens of sustainable development with a focus on scientifically and morally based problem solving. And it’s really going to happen, which is the coolest part. I so wish I could be here to teach the ninth and tenth grade iterations of this curriculum next year. That would be such a wonderful experience, and I am so excited for all of my colleagues and for all of the students who are going to part of it. I would love to join them.

But I also love a really wonderful man and he’s in New York City. Because of his job, Mitch is likely to be in New York City for a very long time. Our rough estimate is a decade at the minimum before we can even entertain the thought of going elsewhere. For better or for worse, going through the rest of my life without Mitch isn’t an option I’m willing to consider, awesome curriculum or not.

So it’s time to go back.

I made this decision a few months ago and took the necessary HR steps back in December. Most of my colleagues know that I’m leaving, but I haven’t said anything to my students. I have a lot of unfinished business as far as they’re concerned (this curriculum, only developing the first of two years of DP Psych) and I’m not entirely comfortable letting go. I have no doubt that whoever takes my place will be more than qualified. I have no doubt that my very capable colleagues will do brilliant work with the curriculum and really change what we’re teaching and how we’re doing it. And there’s really no reason I can’t continue that reevaluation in my own classroom, wherever it happens to be.

I’ve been looking for jobs for over a month, which I know is not a very long time. I’ve applied to a lot of wonderful schools and even more less wonderful schools. I’m waiting to hear about my application to the NYC public school system. I’m waiting to hear from nearly everywhere I’ve applied. There’s only been one flat-out “no”, but I honestly prefer that to silence. It’s a competitive market, so I’m trying not to be too picky. I’m also trying to find a school that will let me teach and let me do it well.

One day, I’ll find myself back in a progressive school in which I’m allowed to teach what should be taught, not what has always been taught. That’s been the best part about teaching the MYP this year, and it’s only going to get better. We have so much freedom to do what’s right as long as we’re working towards the IB aims of responsible action and creating a peaceful world. And who doesn’t want to do that?

At the moment, I’m not ready for my time in Singapore or overseas to be over. I never really planned on reaching that point, but I haven’t planned on a lot of things. So here’s to the next five months – to making them count.

On My Mind

Travels with Kids

2 Comments

The dedicated Harry Potter fans out there might remember the bemusing Gilderoy Lockart, author of a series of books about the exploits unsuspecting adventurers that he attributed to his own prowess. One of these books was titled Travels with Trolls and that’s the inspiration for the title of today’s post.

No, I am not traveling with trolls. No, I have not had children since my last post. No, I am not offering advice on how to travel with children because I have no experience in such things.

I am, however, getting ready for a week-long trip to Cambodia with the grade ten class at my school. There are about 90 of us on this trip, and 12 of them are exclusively my responsibility. I have to admit, that’s rather terrifying.

In addition to regular teaching, the grade 10 advisory team has spent the last three weeks collecting medical forms, health insurance forms, trip waiver forms, passport copies, and passport photos. We’ve spent hours sorting out who will be in which room at the hotels and on which flights. Just when we thought we had it all figured out, about 15 new kids joined the school and about half of those want to go on the trip. And the process repeats.

The past two days after school I have gone to the money changer to change literally more money than I have ever held into small US bills so we can pay the $35 per person visa fees at the airport in Cambodia. Note to people who are unfamiliar with visas-on-arrival: Airports require USD in exact change or in very close to exact change. They will happily take your $50 and send you on your way if that’s all you’ve brought with you (and if the airport isn’t busy enough for you to hope for change).

All that aside, I’m really looking forward to the trip. Once we land in Cambodia, a very cool educational tour group is partnering with us and they are responsible for everything related to the itinerary, programming, and experience that the kids will have. Awesome job, right? We’ll be working with social enterprises and NGOs, participating in circus school, taking a cooking class, biking through town to visit local businesses, hiking to a temple, and learning what social activism means. Had I known one could have a job facilitating such experiences, I might have rethought my career!

Dealing with discipline and disruption in the middle of the night, on the other hand? Less fun. Equally necessary. Unsurprisingly, that’s on us teachers. As I’ve told my advisory kids, who have never seen me angry, I am neither happy nor patient in the middle of the night and they’re better off not testing me on that.

Fortunately, after being with kids and on call 24 hours a day for a week, we have two days off for Chinese New Year. I’m spending two nights at home to recuperate and then flying to Bali for two more nights to relax in some peace and quiet. I am also looking forward to that! There are going to be some changes to my career and living situation in 2016 and I’m trying to do as much as I can before that happens.

If you happen to be at the airport here in Singapore on Saturday and you see 90 people in red shirts . . . congratulations, you’ve found us.

Look out for travel photos coming mid-February!

On My Mind

A Long Way Home

Leave a comment

Friday marks the end of my school break. I’ll begin my 30ish-hour journey back to Singapore tomorrow evening, land early Sunday afternoon, get my life in order, and head back to work first thing Monday morning. Some of my friends are already back in Singapore, but I really don’t do well with downtime. I’m already getting close to a point of emotional turmoil  so the quicker I get back into my routine, the happier I will be (and the sooner I’ll be rid of the inevitable jet lag).

I’m sure I don’t have to say that it has been wonderful being back in the US for the holidays. Mitch and I made a lot of decisions during the 4 days we spent together in New York City, and the subsequent week or so we spent together in Rochester. I feel much better about the choices we’ve made and about our future, than I did before we sat down in person and talked. Since Mitch and I have so many important discussions over the phone, I often forget the instantaneous communication of body language. In truth, body language makes tough conversations a lot easier. Silence takes on a new meaning. Togetherness matters a lot more when it’s not taken for granted.

While I was home, Mum and I took a quick trip to Montreal to see my grandparents.Seeing one’s grandparents really shouldn’t have to be a special, planned occasion. I’ll see them again over the summer when I’m back in the States, but that’s a long way away. It’s unfortunate that we had to drive for 5 hours (and then back) to make Bubbie and Zaidy dinner, but that pizza with a puff pastry crust was delicious. In some ways, we’re lucky that it’s only a 5-hour drive because it’s easy to do in a day. It’s a distance that I’ve been used to for the last 23 years, but I’ve never grown to like it. More convenient than the distance between Singapore and Rochester, though!

No matter how often I fly back and forth, or how many people I say goodbye to on either end, I’m never completely ready to leave. It was easy to leave Singapore for a 3-week break because everyone was leaving and we’d all be back soon. It wasn’t easy to leave Malaysia last June because it meant saying goodbye to my friends, possibly forever, and it wasn’t easy to leave Rochester in July. I usually find myself somewhat anxious and certainly rather despondent. It makes me reluctant to act and leads me to avoid productivity. For example, I should be collecting various clothing items and putting them in my suitcase, but I’m writing this blog entry instead. I want to get back to my home, friends, and even my job, but I don’t want to leave the family and friends I have here.

It’s a conundrum. Welcome to the fragility of life abroad.