Whoa Nellie!

Sometimes when you feel pressured to make a decision and then you make it and it just doesn't sit right…. it is best to unmake it. So I did.

When I make goals, I like to stick them out and get'um done.  Often, I am very good at making decisions quickly and sticking it out to the bitter end.  However, this strategy backfired on me a bit yesterday.

I have had a strange desire to reinvent myself as a PE teacher this spring.  I guess it all started due to the fact that this school year I was required to be present while our PE specialist did her magic for a half hour a week with my wiggly third graders.  It brought me back to myself as a brand new teacher teaching 4th grade PE at Peabody School as part of my teaching responsibilities.  It was the best part of that year.   I was good at it.

As of June 6, I am now the proud owner of my 25 year pen for teaching with the Santa Barbara Unified School District. With that comes this tug to look for another way to stretch my teaching skills.  What better way then to do something drastic like teach Jr. High PE?  So I investigated and found what I needed!  Just take a class and then take a test.  Simple…right? Only problem is the class is $950!  And, the rep was pressuring me to make a decision before 4 PM yesterday afternoon without really having time to process or talk it out.  I did it and it felt good.  But, then it didn't.

With the lack of an actual person who teaches PE with me in the middle of the night as questions zigzanged in my head, I simply knew what I had to do.  I had to get out of bed, find the withdrawal policy and act on it before it was all processed. The message was sent.  They got it and when I called this morning they gladly informed me that they kept my $45 processing fee while not charging me $950 for the class itself.  I feel like I dodged a bullet at 1 AM in the morning in the wild west of my head.

Now I have time to really investigate and see if this is an option for me.  What is the hurry?  I am not ready to leave the elementary classroom just yet.  Maybe I will never be ready to leave it,  and there aren't any openings I can get certified for quickly enough for anyway.  However, I know I do want a change and changing to a jr. high setting is so delightfully scary to me that it is freeing.