It's nearly time for me to return to work for the new year. I've had a bit more time off than usual due to my abdominal surgery but after the kids return to school next week, I'll be back to work the week after.
I have a few decisions to make regarding my work this year. I normally have two jobs, one as a full time lecturer in Education and another as a relief teacher with children with special needs and early childhood children. I'm not sure how I'll go lecturing as I haven't attempted to take a class since going deaf. Now that I have the cochlear implant, lecturing will be easier, obviously, but I'm not sure it will be the same. I'm yet to discover the strategies I'll have to employ to get the job done.
My other job as a relief teacher is a bit tricky. In WA, relief teachers have to work a minimum number of days each year in the state system to maintain state registration. The school where I work with children with special needs in a state school. The school where I teach early childhood students is a private school and I don't have to have state registration to work there. This is my problem. I really don't think I can continue to teach in early childhood. The classrooms are noisy places and young children have quiet voices and tend to mumble. No really, most young children do not speak clearly and loudly, they mumble their words and some even hang their heads while talking. They don't know how to talk to adults. Clearly, I can't teach hearing children whom I can't hear.
Anyway, the other classroom in which I teach, in special needs, has only five students and most are non-verbal. This is a bonus as a non-verbal child doesn't speak and therefore I don't have to worry about hearing them. The education assistants (teacher aides) however do speak and it is vitally important to be able to communicate with them. My other issue is that last year I heard the education assitants talking about another teacher who was hard of hearing in a, how should I say, not very nice way. Now I'm faced with returning to teach in this classroom as a deaf teacher knowing full well how the education assitants feel about deaf teachers!!
My other problem is that schools ring for relief teachers. I can't take a phone call at the moment so how do they call me for work????
What do I do?
Give up relief teaching (which I love) and therefore my teaching registration (that I've worked hard to keep) and also valuable teaching experience that contributes significantly to my lecturing job? Do I have another option? I don't know that I do ............................
