A Shakespearean Morning

To teach or not to teach? That is the question I ask myself every week day morning as I wait for my phone to ring. I wait patiently, and sometimes in vain, for the “call out” that will inform me if I’m working the day or not. Today, my mobile has remained silent and it’s already 7:30am. With each passing minute the likelihood of getting that bill-paying call diminishes incrementally. But still there’s a chance and like every other TOC in the metro Vancouver area, it’s something to keep hopeful for.

Even still as I wait, I can’t help feeling like my talent is going to waste. I’m ready, eager and so willing to work it pains me to know that there are places around the world that are in such a desperate need for teachers that finding a job is not a problem – it’s deciding which one to accept. On rainy and cold days that are too typical in Vancouver, the dream of chasing warmer climes ensues. California is experiencing a teacher shortage, finding work in Florida is as easy as a second interview with that perky recruiter. Dubai, Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong….the list of exotic, teaching adventures goes on. Yet still I wait.

In the far reaches of my traveling mind, I know I don’t have to go as far as that to teach. Slightly less glamorous Surrey offers full time contracts to teachers who have been TOCing, or substituting, for 70 days in the district. And Maple Ridge and Chilliwack are not that far out, are they? The fantasy of having my own classroom could be realized quickly, I’m aware, if I were to pull up stakes and move just a tad east. But I’d have to cross a bridge or two, and living in “the Metro”, we all know what that means. Nobody will come to visit you – out there- in the “sticks”.

So I wait. I wait for my turn on a long list of teaching hopefuls. I wait for my number to come up. Trying to get a teaching career off the ground in this city is a risky endeavour, as the bills continue to come in and rents are not getting any cheaper (what’s the countdown to the Olympics?). But if it happens – my dream of living and working in the same city might just come true. And I’ve been told that good things come to those who wait. (It’s just kind of unfortunate my name is Julie – a derivative, I need not remind anyone, of Juliet – and we all know what happened to her!)