Published: March 19, 2008

Called to Teach

My resume looks like I have career attention-deficit disorder. I’ve been a high school English teacher, dance studio operator, junior high dance and drama teacher, middle school language arts teacher, school district new-teacher coordinator, reading teacher, teacher trainer in a staff-development office, middle school language arts and social studies teacher, and now, a reading teacher ... again.

And although it looks like I can’t keep a job, the truth is this: I have been blessed with opportunities for change when I least expected them.

I have thoroughly loved every job I’ve ever had related to education. But there have been times when it was apparent that I needed to be somewhere else. For example, I was working on new-teacher support with 600 teachers and 300 mentors when I decided to return to college (at age 43) to get my master’s degree. The local university was beginning two programs—school administration and K-12 literacy. Someone said, “It’s easier if your graduate work...