Not All Who Wander Are Lost

The following post addresses my impending involuntary change of employment; newcomers unfamiliar with the relevant history might find some background reading (plus this, and, previously, this) interesting as well.

As part of their commitment to support the "future placement" of the 13 victims of this year's "rightsizing," The School has enrolled us in a four day, consultant-led curriculum in "career transition management."

It's hard to explain what this is like. It's kind of like being in school again, except with more crying and higher stakes. On the other hand, it's also kind of like a desperate group pity party without alcohol. During school hours. In the school guesthouse, which is about as far removed from the visible prep school community as one can be without actually being in a cave in the woods.

The experience thus far has been pretty much exactly what one would expect, in other words. Except somehow, so far it's been much more useful -- and fun -- than expected.

For example: our homework for today's workshop was to write a "30 Second Commercial" to use as an opening statement for interviews and networking opportunities both formal and casual. It was a pain in the ass to write, and turned out to be too long for a true commercial (but, at 80 seconds, just right for a cover letter). But it sure felt good to look down and see the final result:

I've been an educator for over twelve years, in a variety of settings from schools to museums. In this time, I have taught broadly across the curriculum, in subjects from History, Theater and English to Communications, Media and Technology, and built a reputation as a valuable partner and guide for teachers and students engaged in integrating technology and media literacies and skills into their teaching and learning.

In my seven years at NMH I helped the institution move beyond a skill-based technology education model, making it a nationally recognized, award-winning site for inclusion of technology into pedagogy and curriculum, transforming the old A/V department into a more mature, integrated locus for educational technology and media instruction, project development, innovation, and design. Two years ago, my expertise in offering engaging cutting-edge professional and in-house lectures and workshops led to my selection as lead teacher for a ten-day professional development workshop in Dhaka, Bangladesh; more recently, I was instrumental in the development of the infrastructure, service model, and schoolwide curricular integration of two new Library Information Commons.

Now that NMH is consolidating their resources, program, and enrollment in order to be more competitive with more traditional prep schools, I am taking this opportunity to find a teaching position in a forward-looking institution, one which will welcome my vocational commitment to media literacies as a cornerstone of modern education, and my strengths as a change agent, mentor, and teaching partner.

Would you hire this man? Heck, I would. Hard to believe that's me under all the bureaucraspeak, but it's the swear-to-G-d truth. And you should have seen what I had to cut out to make it fit!

As an added bonus, in order to better know how what strengths we have to sell, we've also taken the Meyers-Briggs personality test. Turns out I'm an ENTP, which -- though there are some other proximal types which are also appropriate (Make connections between events and information very quickly, and confidently proceed? Assuredly!) -- pretty much explains everything right there:

Quick, ingenious, stimulating, alert, and outspoken. Resourceful in solving new and challenging problems. Adept at generalizing conceptual possibilities and the analyzing them strategically. Good at reading other people. Bored by routine, will seldom do the same thing the same way, apt to turn to one new interest after another.

References available upon request.