Wanderer Wonderings

I was just thinking about my inability to stay put in a house, in a job, in anything really. I love being back in Denver. I love walking to the lake at City Park and enjoying green space in the city. But, you knew there'd be a but, huh. Well there is. But, can I really settle down? I've bought houses here before and it's easy enough to sell, but what about my job? Can I stay at this job for a while? Then I got to thinking about when I first started in my school district. I was working at a super low performing inner city school with lots of gang bangers, crime, parents in jail, homelessness, emotional and learning disabilities, etc... and guess what? I was there for 3 years and I would have stayed. I wanted to continue working there, I had found a little family and I loved my coworkers. I had found my niche except for one tiny detail... No Child Left Behind came along and forced the school to close because the kids were not performing. Shocker. So I was forced out of my school. Forced to find another school because they kicked us all out. The kids just went to another inner city school, it's not like closing the school gets rid of the kids...

This got me thinking about what would have happened if my school had never closed. Would I have stuck with it? Would I still be there? I do remember being frustrated and venting. That is how I process all the shit I see everyday, but I don't remember wanting to leave and find another school. Well, since they kicked us out I've worked at 5 additional schools. Five. I'm in my 11th year teaching and I've worked at a total of 6 schools, and have had 8 principals.

Walking home from the park today I saw a young boy, probably around 10, throwing rocks at the squirrels in the tree and I thought, ew, I would hate that kid if he were my student. What kind of ass hole kid is mean to animals. It's hard to like or even tolerate the jerks in the world, try being their teacher...