My Job Update

Very sorry that we were not in Jackson yesterday - Beth had to work from 10:30 to 7:30! What a terrible shift!

After much, much, much deliberation with myself, my wife, Jen and Grant, my parents, and many others, I decided to take the Math offer that was presented to me at McCluer North. I think when I last wrote I had not yet been to that interview, and so was unsure how they were going to respond after my interview.

In making the decision, there were several factors that went into my decision, and reasons I felt were valid to go to McCluer North or to the Riverview school. I was not overly worried about the "challenge" factor and ego deflation that teaching in a troubled district would have brought, and felt very comfortable with the prospect of working with the all of the teachers I met at the Riverview school. However, when it came down to it, my ultimate concern was in ensuring that at the end of the day I still had enough energy, love, and attention to give to Beth when we were home together. With the challenges of my first year of teaching AND learning math, I was already presenting myself with enough challenges for now without adding the interest of the troubled district. A large pull I felt toward Riverview I think was God showing me what a servant and role model I could be for those students. However, if I end up honoring those students and devoting myself more to them than my wife, then I would not be honoring my marriage, upon which I think God places a greater importance.

So, I'll be at McCluer North this fall teaching 2 hours of Algebra and 3 hours of Geometry. I'm also in the process of building a personal library of math related books and seeking donations if you have any lying around. I've spent the last 4 years slowly building up a pretty sweet collection of social studies based books in anticipation of using them as supplemental texts in my classes, so I've got some catching up to do!