QotD

questionoftheday asks: What is the most interesting coincidence or series of coincidences that you've experienced? Do you think it was a coincidence, or did you see it as something more?

My answer: I almost never think of anything as coincidental. Call it magical, mystical thinking, but I always think things are connected. Anyway, one of the most fortuitous set of coincidences I've ever experienced was probably getting my alternative ed. teaching job. I moved to Arizona and took a job at a horrible, awful charter school because it was hard to find anything for a first-year teacher from out of state. I quit very soon after the year started because I couldn't be part of the unethical, insane things that were happening. I got a call from the alt. ed. principal who'd randomly pulled my name from the substitute pool and wanted to know if I might be interested in long-term subbing for their English slot, which had just been spontaneously vacated. I was waiting on the state to clear my English cert from Illinois, which their principal did not know, as it wasn't listed in my documents yet. I played phone tag with him for about two weeks until finally going in for an informal interview. I ended up taking the sub job, getting converted to staff and having a radically transformative experience teaching there. I had to quit when the landslide onset of physical disability struck, but I'll always be grateful for the opportunity to spend two years learning and working with those students and staff.