{"id":166,"date":"2011-12-14T18:35:00","date_gmt":"2011-12-14T18:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/?p=166"},"modified":"2012-10-15T09:55:27","modified_gmt":"2012-10-15T09:55:27","slug":"discussion-topic-is-your-destiny-in-the-international-school-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/discussion-topic-is-your-destiny-in-the-international-school-community\/","title":{"rendered":"Discussion topic: Is your destiny in the international school community?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Are you thinking about starting in the international school community?\u00a0 Do you know what you are really getting yourself into?\u00a0 It is hard to know if you don\u2019t have friends already in the International School Community<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We would like to highlight a blog entry from the T Tech Tips\u2019<\/a> blog. This international school educator provides some great insight to the real lives of international school teachers and the decisions that we are faced with as we move around the world from school to school.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s that time of year again in the international education world of contracts, decisions, and thinking about your future. Kim Cofino has a great post about finding the right fit\u2026the right school. Whether you are an international educator or not it\u2019s worth a read.\u00a0 International Teachers are different\u2026we\u2019re weird\u2026.we don\u2019t like stability, we like change and\u00a0challenge. We like travel, culture and to be honest I think we all like just being different. If you\u2019ve met an international educator you\u2019ll know what I\u2019m talking about. Countries, airports, and airlines are just common conversation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“But that\u2019s us\u2026..we live on year by year contracts, don\u2019t try to make us sign a multi-year deal\u2026.cause that\u2019s a deal breaker in itself (part of the reason we left Shanghai). We\u2019re renegades, we\u2019re individuals, and nobody is going to tell us where we\u2019re going to live or that we can\u2019t leave\u2026.cause we will just to prove you wrong. Yeah\u2026.International Educators are different. We expect open bars at conferences. We expect conferences to be in amazing locations. Borneo, Bangkok, Greece, Shanghai, Singapore, Egypt, Nice, etc. Yeah\u2026..international conferences are rough.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is true that we (international school educators) are strange.\u00a0 Most people\u2019s families don\u2019t lead lives like us.\u00a0 My relatives all either live in the same city as each other or the city next to that city.\u00a0 He is right in saying that we are living a wonderful live when the expectation is that we are sent to conferences in international locations around the world; that does not<\/strong> happen to teachers teaching in the public school system in the United States.\u00a0 There was just a PYP conference in Malta and an ECIS conference in Lisbon this past October.\u00a0 Many teachers from my school were attendees!<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then there is the\u00a0friendships\u00a0you create. Deep meaningful friendships with people who become your family. My best friends little brother, who I\u2019ve known since he was in 6th grade graduated from University as an elementary teacher and decided to try out the international teaching thing. His first posting has been Kuwait where he\u2019s in his second year, meaning that he\u2019s now having to decide whether to stay another year or decide if it\u2019s time to move on. He wrote a blog post, a couple lately actually, talking about his decision and how attached one becomes to friends, a country and these amazing kids we have the honor of teaching. Some very reflective blog posts from a young teacher trying to figure out life, education, and the meaning of it all.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is tough to leave friends and your host country of 2-3 years. It is important to note forget the students that you will miss.\u00a0 Not necessarily the individual students, but the general demeanor of the kids at the school.\u00a0 One school I have been at had really \u201cactive\u201d kids, another school had kids with less \u201cpersonality.\u201d\u00a0 International school teachers must keep that in mind as they are thinking about moving on because you can\u2019t just find the same kinds of student just anywhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I\u2019ve done more consulting and conferences in the past two years people ask me quite often, \u201cWhere do you see yourself in 5 years?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a questions I honestly can\u2019t answer because I don\u2019t know where I see myself in 1 year. But here\u2019s what I do know.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

So this year when it came to deciding to sign contracts at ISB for another year we sat down with the administration to see if I could have my cake and eat it too. Could I work in a school with students and continue to consult and present? Three years ago we reached an agreement that allowed me to take days without pay up to 20% to do consulting. Which brought me to ISB in the first place. With a new contract season upon us it was time to see if we could come to an agreement again\u2026.and I\u2019m happy to say we did.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Next year I\u2019ll be on a 90% contract at ISB as the High School Technology & Learning\u00a0Coordinator. So I\u2019ve given up 10% of my contract to focus on following my recent passion of consulting and presenting.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

What a great opportunity to take your career to the next level!\u00a0 I guess there is much flexibility in our jobs working at international schools.\u00a0 For die-hard members of our international school community, it truly is hard to decide where you will be in five years.\u00a0 Most of us plan year to year, maybe 2 years in advance.\u00a0 Some international schools allow a year to year contract, others make you sign a two-year contract.\u00a0 Either way, each year international educators always have a mini-plan in the back of their mind about where they would like to go next.\u00a0 It is what excites us; the endless possibilities of where you can live and work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are you thinking about starting in the international school community?\u00a0 Do you know what you are really getting yourself into?\u00a0 It is hard to know if you don\u2019t have friends already in the International School Community. We would like to highlight a blog entry from the T Tech Tips\u2019 blog. This international school educator provides […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[444,445,434,29,186,184,242,32,292,65,60,104,446],"class_list":["post-166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-discussion-topics","tag-contract","tag-finding-a-job-at-an-international-school","tag-international-education","tag-international-school","tag-international-school-teacher","tag-international-school-teachers","tag-international-school-teaching","tag-international-schools","tag-job-hunting","tag-recruitment-fair","tag-teaching-abroad","tag-teaching-overseas","tag-u-tech-tips-blog"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2flVT-2G","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":86,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/discussion-topic-choosing-international-school-teaching-as-a-profession\/","url_meta":{"origin":166,"position":0},"title":"Discussion topic: Choosing international school teaching as a profession.","author":"ISCommunity","date":"January 22, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Most international school teachers have teaching degrees and have taught for a few (or a lot of) years in the schools of their home countries.\u00a0 Thus they have definitely made teaching their true profession.\u00a0 If you are interested in teaching at international schools, check out International School Community and check\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Discussion Topics"","block_context":{"text":"Discussion Topics","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/discussion-topics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/12\/screen-shot-2011-12-22-at-8-48-49-pm.png?w=350&h=200&crop=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4789,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/new-survey-when-starting-your-job-search-what-is-your-first-priority-in-deciding-where-to-go\/","url_meta":{"origin":166,"position":1},"title":"New Survey: When starting your job search, what is your first priority in deciding where to go?","author":"ISCommunity","date":"September 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A new survey has arrived! Topic:\u00a0 When starting your job search, what is your first priority in deciding where to go? \u00a0 We tell the international school that we are interviewing with one thing, while in the back of our head we maybe are thinking of another. 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Are there similar reasons why teachers choose to work at a school abroad as well?\u00a0 There are many different kinds of international schools and they are all in different situations.\u00a0 How important is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "12 Tips for Selecting an Int'l School"","block_context":{"text":"12 Tips for Selecting an Int'l School","link":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/category\/12-tips-for-selecting-an-intl-school\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/teacher-3765909_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C802&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/teacher-3765909_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C802&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/teacher-3765909_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C802&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/teacher-3765909_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C802&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/teacher-3765909_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C802&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4476,"url":"https:\/\/internationalschoolcommunity.com\/blog\/blogs-of-international-school-teachers-travelling-teacher-at-chatsworth-international-school\/","url_meta":{"origin":166,"position":4},"title":"Blogs of international school teachers: \u201cTravelling Teacher\u201d (A teacher working at Chatsworth International School)","author":"ISCommunity","date":"May 22, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Are you inspired to start up a blog about your adventures living abroad? 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