An Exercise in Futility

Apparently, as I have just applied for my own job (well half of my own job anyway) I am so inept that I do not even rate for short listing for an interview.

Perhaps it is time to leave the stress behind and no longer teach.  Change is as good as a holiday right?

When Life Hands You Lemons...

I find it a little funny the way that life has of teaching me lessons.  In realtiy I am a very easy person to get on with.  I tend not to get angry at other people when they mess up or do something that impinges on me and I find that the only time I get upset is when I let myself down.

On Tuesday I had an early morning meeting secret squirrel style meeting with a woman who handles the strategic direction of the educational material that I am involved in.  She talked to me about essentially a dream trip that the organisation wanted to send me and 5 others on depending on if we could get funding from a fellowship that focuses on providing educators the ability to research and expand their view.

The organisation I work for had identified me as a potential future leader that would use the trip to push technology to the forefront of not only my own classes but help it become synonymous with other fields as well.  They were right in thinking that this interests me because I have already attempted to do some material in this way so it was an honour to be thought of in this manner.

The trip looked much like this;

Week 1

·         Fly to Los Angeles.

·         Visit STEM schools in the southern California region

Week 2

·         Join the ACCE tour to Silicon Valley and San Francisco visiting key high tech industries/corporations (e.g. Google, Facebook, Apple, Oracle etc)

·      Week 3

·         Travel to New York

·         Attend and/ or present at the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) Conference in Philadelphia PA, one of the largest education conferences in the USA: 

Weeks 4 to 6

·      Attend between 1 to 3 weeks of personal professional development (your choice). Part of the study must be university based or receive university credit. Relevant institutions/programs include:
o   Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) including Fab Lab visit: 
o    Museum of Science (MOS), Boston:
o   Smithsonian Institute, Washington: 
o   Exploratorium, San Francisco:
o   Project Lead the Way (PLTW):
select from summer school programs around the country;
o   NASA Field Centers:
o   Meet with Massachusetts officials e.g. governor’s STEM advisory council, Department of Education etc.

So from my perspective this was/is the opportunity of a lifetime.  I mean MIT!  MIT! Wow!  Not to mention all of the other stuff.  This was an exciting opportunity.

But by the end of the day the person had to ring me and tell me that I was not eligible as she was not aware that I was not yet permanent in the organisation (I work from contract until I can finish my study).  I told her that it was fine, and I meant it.  I know that this sort of stuff can happen and I was OK with it.  In fact, I was more than fine.  I was happy that I had been recognised as one of the first choice offers because of my work!  She apologised many times and I find this sort of thing funny.

I am sure that there are people out there that get very upset if they were in the same circumstance but that is just not me.  It was something that was just not clear to me until now that I may be different in this regard.  I realised that in fact the only time that I get upset is when I have a chance to do something that matters and I back down because I become doubtful of my own ability.  I have been doing that for around ten years now and I can see this clearly now.  I am capable in all sorts of ways, all I need to do is try.

Let the small stuff slide.  Sometimes stuff happens that is beyond anyone's ken.  Don't blame them for it and move on.  That is the view from my window today.