I Made a HUGE Change ...

In 1993, I made a Great Big Change. We moved to Hawaii. My husband was offered a job building the inside of an 8,000 square foot house on the Big Island, in this little town of Hawi. (It's where the Ironman participants turn around on their bicycles every October.) I took a year's leave from my job in Seattle and we gave it a try. Here I was, back to square one: writing a resume, applying for jobs, interviewing, and taking a national teacher's test to see if I could teach. Talk about nervous. I asked myself, "What if I don't pass this test after teaching 18 years? Would that mean I 'got found out' and wasn't a good teacher all along?" Answer: NO!

I started off subbing for grades K-12. I was an elementary teacher, not high school or middle school. My heart pounded when I first subbed in the high school. After a few times, I loved it. These older students were a riot! I didn't turn down a sub job once. I stretched myself, challenged myself, and did the best dog-gone-job that I could to get "them" to notice me.

In February of that first year, a fifth grade teacher was in a car accident and she asked me if I would sub for her for the rest of the year. That was one-good-job. I'll always remember those students. Let's see, some of the students were Jeffrey, Patrick, Crystal (who worked with my husband for many years), Beau, Leland, Holly, Diedre, Melvin (my lifesaver when it came to writing and publishing the class newspaper), Brooke, and Kekoa Ching.

I can remember the students from that class easier than I can a class that I've had more recently. Why? They were my first class in Hawaii. They gave me a chance. They let me in. They touched my heart. Other classes have too, but this was my first. When they graduated from high school, I gave many of them a lei at their graduation. I told them thank you for making my first year of teaching in Hawaii a good one. I cried all the way home after I gave the last lei away. I wonder if they "really" know how important they still are in my life.

I Got Bumped

At that time, a teacher in Hawaii was tenured after two years and one day of teaching. If you weren't tenured, a tenured teacher could apply for your job and bump you. It at the end of my second year. I thought I had it made. But another teacher who had tenure got my job. Oh no. It broke my heart. My son went to the school where I worked. I finally got to see my son during the day. I had to accept that it must have been meant to be for me to leave the school. I applied to a new school forty-five minutes away. That was the only school I applied to. Remember, this is a small place and the schools are spread out all over the island. I got the job. I got it! It was a new school! Everyone wanted to work there! So many applied. I knew when I got that job that I would grow. Sometimes I didn't want to leave Kohala and "grow." I wanted to stay where I lived. Where it was familiar. But, there were bigger plans out there for me. I stayed and grew at Waikoloa Elementary for five years, before getting a job back in Kohala. This time it was at the middle school. I told my husband, "I don't want to teach middle school. They're scary!" He told me that if I wanted to get back home, I better take whatever I could get. So I did.

That little change, going from elementary to middle school, made a huge difference in my life and my attitude. Within a week, I was saying to myself, "Hey, I like these older students. They're funny."
I've been at this school for twelve years now teaching a few different subjects every now and then, along with my regular line. It gives me that challenge I was talking about earlier. Besides, in a small school you have to go with the flow.  So, these other positions, like yearbook, student activities coordinator, and Student Council, have made their way into my teaching line, and they've helped me develop the other side of my brain. That creative side! Challenging? Yes. But I love a challenge.

Students Teach ME Lessons All the Time!

Teaching is quite the job. There's never a dull moment. Ever. Just last night I was awake for a long time thinking about the student who was upset that I kept trying to get him to do his work. I wasn't mad at him ever. I thought I was trying to help in a nice and even fun way. But now I find out he didn't like my "do whatever I can to get-him-to-work-till-he-passes" tactics. You just can't win sometimes! I'm okay now. In fact, he taught me a lesson. Maybe I'll write about that lesson another time.
But, you know, overall I'm happy that I listened to my heart and chose the job that I knew I wanted to do way back when I was in the sixth grade.

My experience in teaching and learning and discipline will help me in my new adventure: Network Marketing! More about this next time . . .
May everyone - including me - Have a Better Than Good Day.   :)

Contact Me for support and remember . . . all questions are GOOD ones and I will coach you if you have the desire to be coached.

Cindy Manoske
808 889-5051 (anytime)

CindyManoske@gmail.com