Change of Plans

You know when you’ve been in a job or profession for several years and you think – I am ready for a change. I am burnt out. This is not for me. Well two years ago, this was exactly the situation that I found myself in. I had been teaching for nine years and after almost a decade, I really thought I was done. So I began to search for jobs inside and outside of the education field. I was so unsure of what kind of job I actually wanted but I knew one thing for sure – I 100% wanted OUT of the classroom. I was tired of the daily demands. I was in a toxic, negative environment. I felt overworked and under appreciated. I was not happy and I was not myself.

So after several months, I began a very tedious interview process with Houghton Mifflin (a textbook company). As a middle school English teacher, it was a perfect job and fit for me – especially since I had been using one of their online textbook programs for about 4 years. After submitting 9 video presentations, and a one on one interview/ presentation – I was hired and offered a consultant position to travel around the country and train teachers on how to use the online applications and programs offered through the company – one being the textbook I had been using and was very familiar with. To say I was excited and elated is an understatement. I remember calling my dad and telling him how valued I felt and how much more flexibility I would have since it would be a very high paying, part-time position where I was finally going to be treated like an educated professional (but still in the educational realm).

When I was initially hired it was right around my spring break at the time, so when I returned to work I had to keep quiet for a while and hold this exciting news to myself. As the weeks went on, my future boss was going to contact me and get me set up for all of my training and onboarding. The plan was for me to start some online training as the school year was finishing up and then once I had completed the year, I would attend training in person so that I could hit the ground running in the fall. Weeks went by and my future boss who had hired me told me a couple of times that I was definitely hired but the process was slow – so be patient. Eventually, it was getting to the end of the school year and I had to let my principal know that I would not be returning. In the district I worked in (and in many across the country) if you sign a contract and back out of it, the school district has a right to revoke or put a hold on your teaching license, or not release you out of the contract. So I gave my notice. Again, It was a JOYFUL moment because I was DONE with the classroom teacher part of my career. I was moving upward and onward with my life goals.

Funny thing about the plans you make for your life – these plans don’t always work out the way that we plan sometimes – do they?

One day, during my planning (planning period – ha – the irony is not lost on me here) period around May of 2018, I got a call from my future boss (who was the person who hired me) telling me that the sales team had grossly over-projected their numbers and even though she thought I was a perfect fit – that there was not going to be any work for part-time consultants coming up for the following school year. Furthermore, what little amount of work that the company would have in this division would be given to the full-time consultants that they currently had working at the time. Apparently you have to start as a part-time consultant and if you are a good fit you get hired on for full-time – don’t worry – I asked, can I be full-time, PLEASE????? I had already given my resignation. I had no job. My dream of getting out of the classroom died in about a 5 minute conversation. I was in FULL FREAK OUT MODE. My plans were ruined. I was disappointed. I was hurt. I was ashamed. I was a failure. I was going to have to ask for my job back. I was embarrassed. I was going to be stuck as a classroom teacher – a job that I did not want – for the rest of my working life. I was heartbroken and in shock.

I did ask for my job back and was graciously given a second chance even though in my heart I knew I was not in the right place. But a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do. So the first week of summer rolled around and I got called for an interview at a school that I was familiar with – friend of a friend type of situation. Long story short, I was hired very shortly after (like the same day as the interview) at my current middle school and was excited for a fresh start and a new opportunity. Another bonus would be that now I would be a teacher in the same school district as my own two children and would have a choice in the schools that they could attend. In 9 years, I had never been on the same schedule or worked in the same district as my own kids – this comes with a whole set of pros and cons. But at the time, the district where we live was also going through a redistricting process and my neighborhood was directly affected, so the plans I had for where my kids were going to go to school were all up in the air. Again, all our plans were changing.

In just a few short months, I had been hired, quit a job, asked for my job back, got a job back, been hired for a new job, and quit the same current job for a second time. Do you follow all of that? (if not, re-read as I tell my 7th graders – no shame in rereading people!!) All my plans changed. Even the schools where my now two kids were going to go for middle school and high school changed. My plans, I realized, were not really my plans after all. I was trying to be in control. I was trying to force my way out. I was planning a bad plan and somewhere along the way there was an intervention on my behalf and the plans changed – for the better. Ha! I felt life saying to me – you think you have a plan?? No, there is a better plan. Let me show you.

Fast forward to 2020 and here we are. This has been my 11th year in the classroom and right now there is no other place I’d rather be. In my current school I feel valued, respected, and challenged. I have been working with a new curriculum and a great set of ELA teachers which has helped me to grow both personally and professionally. I get the opportunity to teach students with special needs and have a ton of support from parents and educators in my school. My son has now been at a new high school for two years and it is the best fit for him – better than I could have ever planned. My daughter is now a 6th grader at my current middle school and it is the highlight of my day to see her smiling face walking down the hall before teaching my 4th block class. All three of us are together and we are all happy to be part of the same school family.

No situation is perfect – I still teach middle schoolers, I have a 10th grader, and a 6th grader and I am constantly surrounded by teens with raging hormones. But I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else right now. Turns out that my plans were all wrong. The change of plans that was not in my control at all has landed us as a family and me as a teacher exactly where we all need to be.

Sometimes in life the best way to make plans is to just put one step in front of another and be open to your plans changing at any moment. We only get this one life, let’s make plans, but be willing to change our plans when we are in need of a change of course to land us where we will thrive.

Thank you, Lord, for loving me enough to change my plans when you know exactly when and where I need to be. In moments when I really have no clue except that I am unhappy. Please always remind me to cherish every moment and to be grateful for the prevenient grace that you constantly provide me. Especially when I am trying to control my way in this world and you knowingly see that I am in desperate need of a change.

How have plans changed in your life? What great things have come to you in the most unexpected ways or times? Leave a comment and share your change of plans.

Faithfully Real ~ Stephanie