As an itinerant (traveling) teacher, the best things about my job are also the biggest challenge. I've been itinerant for the better part of my 28-year-old career. Sometimes it really feels like I'm homeless.
Today, I had to go to a school to enlarge another chapter of a student's math textbook. Although I'm at this school weekly these days, I know very few people here. The staff is not especially welcoming and they still don't know who I am! After I was finished, I needed to order large print textbooks for a student slated to start school at another school- my younger daughter's former school, in a couple of weeks. I don't have an office space or computer to use at either of these schools, so I drive to the Visual Impairment Program office at Harriet Eddy Middle School. School's not in session yet, so the school is open only limited hours. I enjoy the solitude of the quiet, empty hallways while I'm alone in my office ordering books. Next I drive to a Head Start Preschool. This program uses a building located on church property- not an EGUSD program at all!
Out of the three schools I worked at today, I fit in best with the Head Start staff I barely know. We have forged a relationship through one of their students who will be an EGUSD kindergartener in a matter of weeks. The staff here is grateful I am coming to work with this student. They are interested to hear of my relationships with families whose children I sometimes teach from age three through high school graduation. My office has been at Harriet Eddy since I was hired in 2000. Only office and custodial staff populate the campus in the summer. The teaching staff here has changed a lot since I've been here. We sometimes have students who actually attend this school, but right now, this is just a place to order books and use the copier.
The problem with being itinerant is one of ownership; it's a feeling of belonging. You may not realize that this a feeling that must be mutual.
The school staffs who include me and appreciate me are the ones I feel I "belong" to. Unfortunately, I need to wait a few more weeks before my "family" school opens- the one I feel I truly belong to. At this school, I fit in with office and custodial staff and general education and special education staff alike. At this school, everyone's an equal...even an itinerant teacher, like me.
