You know, it is interesting how others see you as opposed to how you see yourself. I remember when Sylvia had a procedure done at the hospital and the doctor came by in the recovery room to say good-bye and good luck and casually mentioned that the procedure was quite normal for middle aged women. Sylvia and I both looked at each other in amazement. We had never been called middle aged before and even though Sylvia is older than me, not enough to make me comfortable with the middle aged moniker.
The same thing happened when we were taking Daniel home from the hospital 10 years before that. Nurse Greenberg said to us that two of you better sit in the back seat. Sylvia and I furtively glanced at each other both wondering the same thing. Who was going to drive the car?
The same bewilderment just happened to me again. I was the star specimen at an interview at a prestigious international school and the Headmaster said he was looking for a senior manager to be part of the team. As I was sitting there, I actually wondered why on earth he invited me to come to the interview if he was looking for a senior manager? I still see myself as a first year teacher at Bayview Secondary dancing on tables in room 208 and just getting a big kick out of playing with kids. I can’t imagine myself being a senior executive or being invited to a table of four interviewers all asking my opinion on marketing, standards based education and so on. I guess what is interesting is that I had no problem answering any of their questions and pontificating on any number of educationally related topics with specific examples from my career. Now that is truly scary.
Tomorrow I am off to Mandalay to fill in for a principal. The school has over 1000 students, yet I have no trepidation that I can handle all aspects of the job from speaking with parents, speaking at the morning assembly starting Thursday or dealing with any challenges teachers or students bring to me. (it is Myanmar, no student will be bringing problems to me!). As for the parents, I will have an interpreter who, no doubt, will say whatever is appropriate no matter what I say anyway so why worry?
Near the end of May, I also got invited to meet with four board members of Mahidon university, one of the best universities in Bangkok. I guess it is part of the colonial mentality, even though Thailand was never a colony, that some old white guy with white hair has more to say that the local expert. I feel like such a sham, In Toronto, I would just be some old white guy retired teacher with nothing to say of any value. Here people with Dr. before their name actually think I have something worthwhile to talk about. It is very hard for me to get my head around this concept because in truth, I am not sure I have anything worthwhile to say about anything, especially education!
It will be a pity when I actually have to decide on a job. This job ride is quite exhilarating and I am sorry it is coming to an end. I remember when the Ontario Ombudsman came to my class at Thornlea and told us a story about working on a case for three years. When she finally phoned the complainant to tell him he had won his case after a three year battle she could not understand why he didn’t sound all that excited. I now know; he had nothing more to look forward to. Job hunting is probably a lot more fun than actually working.
Anyone know anything about second language teaching for my May interview?
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