My Day in Kindergarten

Fifteen months ago, I ended a marketing strategy & content contract with a client who wanted to reduce my pay. I'd been working with them for several months and started to see traction for the work I was doing. I loved what the company did and really enjoyed the people with whom I regularly interacted.

One uncomfortable part of contact work is being "the last to know." In this case, I was the last to know that they wanted to pay me less but expected the same or better results. Insert <eyes rolling> emoji. As many marketers are finding out today - there are unrealistic expectations for our work, the worst offender? Produce Revenue NOW.

Do it fast.

Do it good.

Do it cheap.

You can do any combo of two of these, but not all three. This is known as the Iron Triangle.

It took me about 2 hours to make the decision to terminate that contract - thinking, I'll get another client right away who will respect me and value my work. <crickets>

I wrote often, continued to network, and plugged away at my two podcasts: Real Words and On the Edge!

In the meantime, I applied to over 2000 jobs -- at least half of those here on LI. No luck, as I am either over-priced or over-the-hill.

My ego took the hit in stride and declared, "I'm not done yet..."

I started researching grad schools and decided to apply to be a substitute teacher with my local public school district while I figured out what's next. This was a considerably rigorous process - I was glad to see - which included an FBI background check, getting fingerprinted three different times, and multiple orientations and trainings which ranged from Sexual Harassment to Pest Control. In total, the whole process took nearly three months.

My preferences were for first, middle school and, maybe high school. Saying to myself, "I will never walk into a kindergarten classroom." But then, a subbing offer popped up on my app. ??

Yesterday was my first assignment: Kindergarten

I was scared to death. Truthfully, I wasn't nervous at all, until I walked through the colorful construction paper covered ocean-themed classroom door. "What am I thinking?" I screamed internally. Guess what? As daunting as it seemed, I figured it out pretty quickly, as 22 five-year olds are great motivators.

Today

This morning, I was sore. Standing all day, getting up and down from the floor, plus walking to and from a playground several times will do that to a body used to sitting at a computer all day. I was using different muscles. The thing is, I slept better and longer last night than I have in months. Huh.

I rose today thinking it was a good experience and now that it's over and I know what it's like, I know what I'm saying "no" to.

And then, my phone just chimed - I looked down at it, "Transitional Kindergarten - 8/28-8/29"

I guess I have some neglected muscles.

Tomorrow will be my second day in kindergarten. As a teacher.

Seek knowledge. Don't wait for it to come to you. You might be waiting for it for the rest of your life. Life is too long to wait and too short to waste, waiting for someone to see your worth.

by Rayanne Thorn Krueger, Substitute Teacher

Capistrano Unified School District

and

Swing Education