Teaching and my second act: Uprooted, and oh by the way, you have one week to learn how to be a teacher! HELP!

Change

I personally love change and have made a career out of helping people navigate change in one form or another.  I consider myself a lifelong learner and I love to explore new subjects and develop new skills.
Throughout my life, I've always been open to change and new experiences.  So, I love to travel and every place I've gone, I've asked asked myself the question: "Could I live here?"  With only two exceptions, I have said yes.  The two exceptions are/were Los Angeles (too crowded), and Las Vegas (too hot). 

Even though I'm an intreped explorer, my home location has been fixed for 31 years.  My husband and I have been looking to relocate our careers to another state and a bit warmer weather than Western Wyoming.  We were looking for a nicer climate with 4 seasons but not too far from family.

I was really worried that my opportunities for career growth were limited by the size of my community as well as my chosen profession (education and human resources).  At the age of 50, I was also worried that if I didn't make a move then my options would deplete further because of my age.  If I stayed where I was until retirement, then I was really worried about stagnating, both in my career and personally. 

Opportunity

Early this summer, my husband got an opportunity to promote and transfer with his company.  He was excited and I hoped that my prospects would grow in this new location.  The ironic thing was that it was very close to one of my least favorite places on earth (Las Vegas).  The small town he was transferred to was smaller than the one I was leaving, so I assumed that prospects would be slimmer and I would have to commute to Vegas. 

There were no jobs listed in the community and no others in close commuting distance to our new location.  Then through a family member, I heard of an opportunity (through a more than coincidental meeting in a casino) in the tiny little community to teach class to at-risk kids to help them graduate and find a career and/or go for higher education.  It sounded like a wonderful opportunity but I didn't have a job description to go on to draft my resume, so I just put one together with my skill set.  When I had my first interview, I received the job description, and it was nearly an exact fit with my resume.  Even though I didn't have a teaching degree, I was hired!  I was very excited about the idea of teaching, but I knew that I would have a lot to learn. 

Second Act

I had one week to learn the program and to get things ready for my first day of class (OMG)!!  I've been working for 3 weeks now and I can barely keep my head above water.  I'm learning every day, and I look forward to learning from others.

I need help knowing basic things like great classroom management, how to use all the technology, where to go for help, what the rules are (written and unwritten), and who to trust. 

In my first day of teaching, I told the kids a little about my wild and quick introduction to teaching, but I said that "I feel like I'm exactly where I'm meant to be." 

I'm jumping in and hoping to be the best teacher that I can be.

Second act here I come!