Do I Stay or Do I Go

This past month, I was faced with a big decision. The decision was whether to stay at my present school or go to an even better school. This was a very hard decision to make. The school I was at this past year was a middle school in the delta. Greenwood Middle School had many dreams of becoming a level five school. These dreams where shared by the faculty, staff, and the students. As I wrote about in my previous blogs the school tried extreme measures to achieve this goal. The students also worked very hard. After all the work ,I doubt Greenwood Middle will be a level five school. But I am proud to say that I was part of the efforts to better the school and education in Greenwood. Needless to say, I was satisfied with my first year of teaching. It wasn’t as bad as others, strangely I enjoyed teaching at Greenwood Middle School, and I somewhat miss my students already.
About two weeks ago, one of my college basketball coaches gave me a call to ask if I would work basketball camp. While I was telling her that I couldn’t work camp because I had summer school in June, she mentioned that a coach from Desoto County called her and asked about potential assistant basketball coaches. She told me that she mentioned my name and I said that was fine. Well, the next day the coach and principal of the school called me. They seemed to be very interested in me teaching at their school. I never really thought that I would leave Greenwood, but I was thinking this might be a better opportunity. I knew that if I stayed in Greenwood for another year that next year would be my second and last year of teaching. When Desoto asked if I would like to come visit the school, I said thought to my self why not. The visit went great. A few of the teachers went to Ole Miss while I was there and were acquaintances of mine. The faculty and staff seemed like great people. They also seemed to be dedicated teachers. At Greenwood Middle, I believe, that the primary problem was a lack of dedication and pride on behalf many of the teachers. While at Desoto, they took me on a tour of the school. While on our tour, I observed a class in which all the students were quiet and on task , and it was at the end of the school year. I did not know that was possible. My kids have been so crazy the last couple of days. Then I found out the class had a substitute teacher. This made their behavior even more shocking. I knew that if I came to Desoto that I would be teaching well behaved kids. Even though Desoto had a great many things to offer, the decision was still really hard. Greenwood was also a great place, and I am needed more there. Desoto wants me to teach high school biology and science skills. I really want to experience teaching high school before my two years are up so I know which I like best. Desoto is also closer to my home town. I also a nephew who is growing more and more every time I see him. I really want to be a part of his life. I have been away from home for about five years and every time I go home I feel as if I don’t really know my family. Also my small cousins seem to not recognize me when I go home. That makes me feel really awful; family is very important to me.