Decisions, decisions…

Yesterday as I sat outside grading papers on a typically sunny, blue-sky, 60 degree Jordan January day, I realized this was a very smart time, a very smart month, in which to obligate the teachers at KA to sign their letter of intent about the coming school year some 200+ days down the road…again, I was outside grading papers on a typically sunny, blue-sky, 60 degree Jordan January day and my friends in the New York area had another 15 or so inches of snow dumped on them, and my friends in Ohio are just shivering and awaiting the next chapter in their winter saga. Very smart indeed.

In all my years of teaching, I have never had to declare so soon into the school year my intentions for the coming school year. At Hackley it inched earlier to February, but one could stretch that to March if you were on the fence and biting your nails about your destiny. The first school year here in Jordan we didn’t make our intentions clear until May—everything that first year was a little, “wow, we are really running a school! We better think about next year!”

We knew all Fall that December-January would be the time this year when we had to state our intentions for 2011-12, and when the school year ended last year and I bid farewell to Jordan for the summer, I knew that this school year would be my last year at KA. After all, I had had a contract of sorts brokered by one of the great students here, Jude Dajani, sometime in her 10th grade year. At that time I had taught Jude since the school opened, and she was doing well in AP World History. She decided that I must stay until she and the class of 2011 graduated. I liked the momentum of the new school, liked my boss Eric very much, and enjoyed the work/project of bringing AP history to the students at KA. So Jude and I shook hands, and there was my binding contract. Just so you know—I have since taught Jude in two more courses, so I will have taught her four years, every day of her high school career!

Last summer I had a strange amount of phone calls from American friends asking me my plans after I left KA. It’s as if everyone knew the deal I had with the effervescent Jude, and knew that I was beginning to think post-Jordan. Where would I relocate? What kind of school? Would I do some administrative work? And then there was that program at Harvard I read about—would I really be a student again?? It has been 15 years since the Klingenstein program and my latest Master’s program (okay, that was a little self-serving, since now it is clear I have done more than one!) While I have done 7 NEH seminars over those 15 years since Columbia, it has been since the mid-1990s that I was a full-time student. Hmmmm….the program entices nonetheless…and that seemed a good way to re-enter the USA as a full-time resident. I even went so far as to shell out the $40 for the GRE Test practice book!

As the summer drew to a close, and I packed up the GRE Test practice book to bring back for study purposes, I didn’t want to begin the year with such finality about my departure. That felt like I wouldn’t even give the school my full attention. I decided to get the year up and running and spend the month of November pondering whether I would stay longer than my Jude contract.

As it turns out, the year has been swell. I like the new boss in so many ways. I love my juniors (and seniors) in AP Art History and I am enjoying the work with the youngest faculty. Oh, my. Then I have the added “problem” that a few times a week, some younger student stops and asks if I will still be here when they can take Art History. Then last month, two juniors presented to me a written contract urging me to stay another year. Herewith, or some legalese, is the contract offered to me by these juniors Dima and Divij:

YOUR KING’S ACADEMY CONTRACT OF EMPLOYMENT -POSITION OF BRO, AND LIKE HISTORY HEAD
WHEREAS, HACKLEY—NO, NO, WAIT KING’S ACADEMY is unique in that it is HELLA TIGHT and is committed to maintaining in the framework of Catholic, (oh wait you’re Protestant….never mind then.)

WHEREAS, it is the policy of King’s Academy to employ highly qualified bros and sistas who support the ballin’ history program in pursuit of such high educational standards;

Queen DimaSaad and the wanna-be mayor of AwesomevilleDivijMehra propose the following conditions of employment for the renowned Mr. JLo (Divij’s attempt of a nickname) for the academic year of 2011-2012.

1. The term of this agreement is August something, 2011 until whenever the queen graduates, 2012.

2. BASICALLY, Mr. John Leistler must agree to instruct the queen (DimaSaad ’12) *cough* AP Modern European History *cough* and be instructed in the field of Art History by DivijMehra (because he is a work of art).

3. You WILL (Yeah that’s right) devote a reasonable amount of out-of-class time to curriculum-development (i.e. taking us to Papa John’s), to sponsoring student activities (MORE Papa John’s), and to other duties as assigned by the administrator (Chili Ways).

4. You can’t be a naughty boy or we’ll suspend you and terminate this contract

6. So you’re probably wondering what we can pay you..well the Queen proposes that we tax the students extra money so that your salary can be quadrupled… a la Louis XVI (LOL YES THE QUEEN CAME UP WITH A HISTORICAL REFERENCE, SHE’S SPECTACULARJHHH HHH).
Perks:
• You get to see The Queen and the wannabe every single day of your life next year and that will make your heart dance, we guarantee.
• More pizza in your life. (See condition #3)
• You get to be more badass because you get to tax people

SIGNATORIES:
Prettyboy_Divij Mehra@hotmail.joewr455r _______________
Queen DimaSaad _______________
Mr. BROman Dickson _______________
Zeyna Goldilocks Tabbaa _______________
Mounir -thinks he can play the Piano- Ennenbach _______________
AGREED:_______________________________________________________________________
(Signature of BRO—that’s you…) (Date)


How could I not consider their contract? They are offering me pizza!

So I met with our new headmaster and delivered the news that I would stay another year. It doesn’t hurt that the weather here is sensational in January, but it really wasn’t a hard decision. What was the basis for my decision? I work for a visionary educator, I work with committed educators in my department, I teach subjects that put me over the moon, and I have students stopping me asking, “You will save a place for me in Art History, won’t you??”

Yes, I will miss the conveniences of the United States and the presence of autumn, and I will continue to pay hundreds and ultimately thousands of dollars to rush home for a week of vacation now and then, and I wish I had a better car here and better entertainment options, and more museums and walking spaces nearby…but the project, the reason I came here is alive and well. Here is a poem that Jamil, a senior I taught last year, sent to me saying that he had submitted this to English class for which he had to write a sonnet:

Art History Influence
Tis course of great depth and immense insight
Tis all-encompassing will awe and stun
Didactic and pragmatic day and night
One moment serious while the other fun
Art history is a one of a kind course
Viewing the Parthenon or the Stupa
Looking at the Greek Ephebe with his force
Or at the omniscient and wise Buddha
All in all, a change within me was made
Being more audacious than Claude Monet
Or more creative than Picasso’s shade
Occupied by sublime and Arête
A Sonnet! Said some sober students suddenly
Ay, I have learned to be extraordinary

These students, Jude, and Dima and Divij, and Jamil and of course, others—they have been remarkable, and why not stay and see where this may yet lead?