mottos

I was asked an interesting question yesterday.

It's been ages since I blogged, but the nutshell version of the last 12 months is that I moved to Vancouver, spent a year working in the outdoor ed and boarding programs of a prestigious boys' school called St. George's, went on some amazing trips and saw some amazing parts of BC and Alaska, and ended up being hired by a different independent school to teach IB physics.

I was asked... didn't it feel like a step down, to leave St. George's and come to where I am now? It was an interesting one, but not a hard one to answer. I love Saints. I loved living there, the friendships (particularly with the boarding staff), the kids, the routine, the rhythm of work life and personal life being integrated. I miss going home to a building of extraordinary young guys about whom I care very deeply.

But I wasn't a teacher there. I come to St. John's as a very new, very rookie teacher, but a teacher nonetheless. I have classes. I'm not someone's student teacher or someone's intern - I'm no longer defined in relation to someone else. It's stable. I can think about a plan beyond June.

I realized on my walk to school this morning that what I should have answered was "sine timore aut favore." That without fear or favour, we must forge ahead, as Mr. J would say. I've been given two amazing chances to be a part of the life of two amazing schools, in two very different capacities.

So no, not a step down. Maybe sideways.


Edit: Instead of "we must forge ahead," what I should have said is ad futura cum spe