Intro: a journey away and a journey toward

Marhaba! On August 3, 2008, I'll board a Lufthansa 747 that will take me to Abu Dhabi, capital city of the United Arab Emirates, and a teaching job at an international school there.

To me, the decision to move halfway across the world makes perfect sense. It is about adventure and growth as much as change and renewal. It's about dispelling myths and discovering new truths. It is both a journey away and a journey towards.

I will be safe. I will not under any circumstances have to wear a burka. I will be allowed to drive a car and appear in public unaccompanied by a male relative (fortunately, since they will all be thousands of miles away). I'm not afraid, nervous or bracing for mad misogeny--but the number of times I've had to give these answers to questions asked by otherwise progressive, highly educated friends and family make me eager to invite as many people along for the journey as possible.

Hence this blog. And if we are going to be traveling together, this is what you need to know before the plane even takes off.

A journey away. June 2008 marked the end of the first five years of my teaching career in an urban charter school I helped start. Being a founding teacher was a creative process in the literal sense of the word. The school infiltrated every aspect of my life until it was as much a part of me as my arms and legs. The need to recover my own body parts and sense of myself as a separate entity led me to this journey away. But it's less of an amputation than a way to rub life back into long-neglected limbs. I'm leaving with a head full of questions about the meaning, reality and process of education, especially urban education, and a deep love for the work of standing shoulder to shoulder with committed teachers and families on the front line of the modern-day civil rights movement. I bring these questions and this love with me on the journey, though my present trajectory is away from urban ed. Most of the questions connect my former school to my new one: how are middle class, privileged students educated differently than the low-income students of color I've taught for the past five years? How are schools the same, regardless of student background and parent education level? How will I, as a middle class white woman, teach my middle class students (who will come from 42 different countries, but will be children of privilege regardless of their ethnicity and culture)? Will I become different with them or will I remain the teacher I am now? How will I be able to use what I learn in this new context to become a better teacher in the future? Will I be able to in some way to further the goals of my former school, where a huge part of my heart will always reside?

One of the reasons I'm writing this blog is because I'd have loved to read about an urban teacher's move to a private school overseas. If you fit into that category--or ever plan to--I hope you find these pages helpful. If you have no interest in this topic--no worries. It won't be the only thing going on. This is not just a journey away. It is also...

A journey toward. I'm moving toward the next step in teaching and learning, dashing there, in fact, with a huge grin on my face. I'm moving toward a school that will help catch me up on five or more years of technology; to colleagues who are both older and more experienced than I am; to a place where I can be a teacher only--and leave the pressure of being a founder miles and miles behind. I'm moving toward a diverse community in a new culture in an area of the world I've always wanted to go. And I'll be coaching JV girls softball!!!!! I leave my old school and community with no regrets or bitterness, and I'm moving toward something that feels exactly right for this time. I can't wait to meet my new students and colleagues, explore a new city, set up an apartment, travel around the world (already in the works: Oman, Morocco, Spain, Poland and Ireland!) and learn, learn, learn.

What makes it even more perfect is that I won't be doing it all alone. The best friend, fellow explorer/seeker and committed educator anyone could ask for is coming to Abu Dhabi too. I will also gladly mention anyone else who agrees to make an appearance here (though I won't be identifying my school or individual students by name). Anyone want to go first? :)

See you in Abu Dhabi!

--Ray