by Lucy Vurusic Riner
I have been teaching dance at a high school right outside of Chicago’s city limits for 15 years. As in any other job, I have developed my role here and have become part of the fabric that is this institution. And as in many other teaching jobs, I have seen my share of students come and go. As a creature of habit my assumption was that I would build a dance program that I could live in for all of my career.
In reality, the average person changes jobs at least three times in a lifetime….and I had already left my first teaching job 15 years ago. Teaching philosophies change, students have different needs and administrations come and go. Being a creature of habit in a school system is not always easy. And so I decided to explore change.
Change is good right? It pushes us, especially as artists, to stretch ourselves and our abilities.
For me leaving was hard for several reasons. I love my colleagues and the people I had grown to know as my second family. Let’s be honest, I spent more time in that building than the one I still have a huge mortgage on. As a teacher, this family helps you live out your philosophies, develop and redirect your curriculums, and when you teach in the right school or studio your department can really make or break whether you want to get up for work each day. [Read more…]