THE CALL

ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 8, 2013, I RECEIVED THE PHONE CALL THAT WOULD CHANGE MY LIFE FOREVER!

I was recently offered a full-time position with the Rockford Public School District 205 as both a Gen. Ed. and an ESL Strategic Literacy Specialist. Cool, but what the heck is that, you ask? Well, to be honest, I'm not 100% sure myself either, but let me try to explain.

On the General Education side (or the mainstream classroom), I will be working with tenth grade struggling readers. To strengthen their reading comprehension abilities, I will help these students decide which reading strategies will help aid in their comprehension of a text (maybe by completing a KWL chart, for example). And on the ESL side, I will be working with third, fourth, and fifth level ELLs as they continue progressing and internalizing their academics in the English language (all while continuing to strengthen their language skills). And let me conclude this paragraph with a big 'I think.' More to come on this after I complete New Teacher Training on August 19-21! Me - a new teacher?! THIS IS BLISS!

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But let me back up for a moment and explain the absurdity of all of this awesomeness!

So after six and a half grueling years of college education (two private schools and one public school transfers later), I finally graduated on December 15, 2012 - what was then thought to be the happiest day of my life. I had anticipated this date more so than my future wedding to Mr. Right, the birth of my angelic children, even the day when my retirement pension kicks in. But not a week after crossing the stage at a college where I was more than ready to leave, the dark face of reality kicked in: I needed to find a job!

After eight months of tirelessly filling out hours-long online applications and receiving either bad news or no news, I was about to give up. I was really beginning to think that I had made a mistake to go into teaching when there has been such a shortage of available jobs. My insurance would be running out in five months (I can only stay on my mother's until I turn twenty-six), so I needed to find something, anything, and fast. What also surprised me was the fact that I went on a rocking interview with an ESL representative from Rockford's district back in April. The interview ran over an hour long, and after most of the questions I answered, the interviewer responded with words of praise or encouragement. At the end of the interview, she told me that she would pass my information on, along with her recommendation, to a principal and I would be hearing from him within a couple of weeks. I then asked, "Will the principal still contact me even if he decides he's chosen another teacher?" To which she replied with a smile, "Yes, but I don't think you'll have anything to worry about."

So why the heck did early August show up and I had still heard nothing from District 205?

But while this year had been taking its toll on me, I did have a pretty fantastic summer, albeit one devoid of any sort of finances or means. I stood up as the Maid of Honor in a friend's wedding, tanned on the beach, camped in the Porcupine Mountains, read a whole TON of books, traveled to Buffalo, N.Y. to surprise the boyfriend's uncle for his seventieth birthday, and concluded with a trip to the Upper Peninsula, Michigan to visit my step mom. These last two trips took place back-to-back, and I remember being with both of our families discussing the great importance of me finding a job. So on my final 400 mile drive home from Hancock, MI on Monday morning, I was locked, loaded, and ready with a plan to find a job and secure myself some benefits, even if that meant stocking hay bales outside The Tractor Supply.

And then it happened.

While sitting stopped in bumper-to-bumper traffic along I-43 West in Milwaukee, my cell phone rang. It was the very wonderful woman who had interviewed me back in April. She was calling to ask me - ME - if I had already "secured a position" within her district. She was asking me - Vanessa Noonan, twenty-five-year-old-little-girl-with-only-dreams-of-becoming-a-REAL-teacher - if her district had already given me a position! And then get this: She was shocked when they hadn't! She then called HR to ask why I hadn't been placed, and they told her it must have been some sort of computer glitch or something, but that I was already supposed to have a job with the district. When I hung up, she was already in the process of having one of her principals call me. On Wednesday he called. On Thursday, he interviewed me; and by noon that same day, I had "secured a position."