As I write this we’re well into 2024. Although some of you may have already tackled your resolutions for this year, I didn’t write any. However, it doesn’t mean I’m not reflecting on 2023 even though we’re more than halfway through January. I have a question for you. How was 2023? Was it everything you expected? Did everything go as planned? Did you wish 2023 would go on a little longer, or did 2024 not get here fast enough? I’m sure feelings are mixed out there. I’ll tell you a bit about my 2023 in case you’re interested. It certainly had its highs and lows.
I don’t make resolutions and I’m not against them. We all need goals. Although I am in essence reflecting on my 2023, I hope that if you did have a bad year what I wrote here will make you say, “It could always be worse.”
January 5th, 2023, Wonderful is no longer wonderful
I’ve written about my firing from my last job here before, but it’s worth mentioning again because it was the lowest point for me this past year. It has taken a while to recover from that. A year later, I’m still not completely over it. Just to do a quick recap, last school year (2022-2023) I was forced to teach middle school English. It’s a long story why I took that position so I’ll save that for my therapist. It was a rough start, to say the least. Working with 11-to 13-year-olds is not easy and not exactly what I’m looking to do in my future teaching career. To those of you who enjoy working with this age group, Godspeed and my hat is off to you. As a first-year teacher, I did the best I could to teach this age group. Again, it was rough and I tried. However, there was one person at this school who didn’t care whether I tried my best or not.
I was looking forward to the Christmas break. It was a chance to recharge and come January, get a fresh start with these kids and make the best of the situation. I planned lessons and many different things I feel my kids would’ve enjoyed in my class. As our school-wide staff meeting got close I was looking forward to starting over. I was called into a meeting with my principal before the morning session assuming it was to discuss an incident that took place before the break. When I saw two human resources representatives in the conference room I knew exactly what was about to happen. Mr. Z, you’re fired. It’s not going well with 6th grade so you’re out of here. This firing did not come from my principal, it came from the superintendent, who for some reason I still don’t know to this day, just did not like me. The events that lead up to this point prove these were personal moves, not academic ones. She didn’t even have the guts to do the firing herself, she had her cronies do it instead. What was promising to be a great teaching career at the Wonderful College Prep Academy ended within seconds. Not only did I lose my benefits and a decent salary, I lost my internship. That part hurt the most. My teaching career took a major hit thanks to the superintendent.
The only thing I could do at this point was go back to subbing. I do love subbing, but I loved my kids at Wonderful. So I’ve been subbing again since January. My teaching credential is still on the horizon, but the road to get there just got more difficult.
That was probably the worst thing that happened to me last year. Other things happened as well but I don’t want to put you in a total bummer. This is supposed to be encouraging right? Well, many good things happened this year as well.
The highlight was traveling to Europe. 4 countries in two weeks. The trip of a lifetime. Italy, Switzerland, France, and England. I still haven’t finished writing about that trip because there are so many stories to share, but thanks to this trip, it truly softened the blow on what started to be a bad year. The trip was needed and necessary. We do plan on going back next summer. We’re hoping to hit other countries while we’re there as well. I’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
Job loss, bad; trip to Europe, good. That about sums up 2023. Life isn’t easy. I think we all can agree on that. The world is going crazy and always will. Some things are in our control, some are not. We can do our best with what we can control, everything else, we can just hope it doesn’t cause too much damage. All I know is this, I am still going to work hard to get to where I want to be in my career and still be able to take care of my family and friends.
If you did have a bad year, I do pray 2024 goes better for you and yours. You are all in my prayers. Thanks for subscribing and feel free to share my page with your friends and family. I’ll even accept your enemies.
P.S. Again, thanks for reading and, oh, by the way, the woman who fired me at Wonderful was asked to resign two weeks after I was let go. Coincidence? I’ll let you decide.
Hi Daniel,
I've interacted with various ages (babies to high school) in past years - as a babysitter, teacher's aide and Sunday school teacher. I actually liked the "terrible twos" because they didn't usually start talking back until age three! I found that the Junior High age group was the most difficult - so I can understand your difficulty with these kids.
Remember to "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4.
Wishing the best for you Daniel! I can empathize with all the emotions that come from losing a job. Particularly when it feels like the deck was always stacked against you. I appreciate your openness in sharing something difficult from 2023 and am sending you all the good vibes for 2024!