Of counsel

Good advice is sometimes hard to hear

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Hello and welcome to the Pooh Poop Poo podcast. This one is a very recent memory and I'm calling it of counsel. I just took a new job. I'm in a school for behavior challenged kids, kiddos who often scream and cry, and who can fly off and into a tantrum in seconds. They're smart, they do grade level work, but they can't keep their emotions to themselves. There are a lot of teachers and ed techs there to help, including a therapist with a cool swing which hangs from the ceiling of the school that used to be a church. I guess there's more of a need for these services now. I just started last week as an ed tech, not a lead teacher like I have been, and I'm trying to feel humble, something that's very rare, but very good for me. Also what's good for me is that there are a million rules to follow, never my strong suit, but the older I get, the more I realize that I should be grateful for the job, not the other way around. So I'm following the rules, including right now going to Cole's because they have my size black pants, and I've been told not to wear my usual black leggings. I also already learned that looks can be deceiving because I thought this blue eyed teacher was mean girl pretty, but she actually offered to sit with me and give me help and advice in filling out the behavioral forms that you have to do every day on the computer after the school kiddos go home. It has been taking me hours. A month or so ago we stayed over with good friends in New York. The husband and wife are both lawyers, and when I asked the husband, a partner in a big fancy firm in the city who makes lots of money, how things were going, he said, Well, now I'm of counsel. Meaning, he told me, that he's not a partner anymore, but he advises and helps the younger lawyers. That hit me, really, really hit me. Was it my time too to be of counsel? As far as I can see, there are only two people older than me at the school, and they are not lead teachers either. We don't have offices, we don't have a full summer vacation, and we have to clock in, something I've never done in my entire life and career, advertising included. But here's where I am now. I'm not ruling out not going back to a classroom teaching, but here's where I am now. One thing made me feel better even though it involved a kiddo crying. This past week I was assigned to a nine year old boy I'll call M. He was in the middle of English class writing on his worksheet, and he started to sob. Really sob. The teacher went over to ask why he blurbled I want Miss Mayer to sit next to me. I was surprised, but they really try to make the kids happy here. The lead teacher moved a chair over to M and I sat down. Of counsel, shmuv counsel.