Taking a Year Off Teaching But Want to Stay Current (hire, English)

[sabbatical]

I decided to take a year off of teaching this year to work on my fiction writing. It's something that has been brewing for a few years and I just bit the bullet and told my last school that if I don't work on my novel now, I never will. I found teaching (high school English) totally incompatible with having time to write so I had to pick one or the other. They said ok, but gave no guarantees that they would hire me back in 2015, though I wouldn't really want to return to that school anyway.

Now, two months into the school year, I'm having a bit of anxiety about my decision. Writing is going ok but I don't have a lot of confidence that I will produce something publishable--though I have a few short stories published in well-regarded journals previously. I realize now that a year is a long time and I might not look that attractive to administrators next year, or that it will look like my commitment to the profession is low. I was only teaching full-time for three years until this year but did teach part-time before that for a few years--so let's say a grand total of five years teaching experience.

So I'm asking the community here for ideas to keep my skills up to date. I've thought of the obvious things--subbing and tutoring-- but I feel a lot of admin wouldn't view that as serious work. Does anything else come to mind?

Thanks

[photobuff42]

Professional development is what really keeps you current. Do you belong to a professional organization? You could also attend seminars or webinars. That would show you are continuing to learn and refine skills, rather than implementing someone else's lesson plan.