So YOU want to be a TEACHER!
I decided at some point that I wanted to be a teacher. I’m not really sure why I decided to be a teacher BUT that is what I wanted to do. My Dad sadly didn’t agree. I came home from school in Year 9 after my first Business Studies class and told my parents that I really enjoyed this class. Debits = Credits just made perfect sense and why didn’t someone tell me this earlier in life. From that moment on my Dad told the world I was going to be an Accountant. I knew that wasn’t what I wanted to do BUT DAD SAID… During my middle school years I helped out in a friend of the family’s classroom each school holidays as the school I attended finished a week or two earlier than theirs. I loved it even if all I was doing was cleaning out art cupboards and placing art work on the walls. To appease my father during Year 10 I went and did a week’s work in an Accounting firm. I absolutely hated it. I so didn’t want to be the accountant behind the desk staring at (and this is going to show my age!) page after page of ledgers. My final years of high school I followed the business course – Accounting, Economics, Legal Studies, Secretarial Studies, Maths B and English. As school was finishing I fought long and hard with my dad over which university degree I would do. We managed to compromise I could put into number 1 the duel degree of B.Ed and B.Bus as long as the rest were a B.Bus. Thankfully I was accepted into my number 1 choice….
There has been a lot of posts lately about being a teacher and going into the profession or not going into the profession… A few of these raised some questions for me. Did I go into the profession blind? Do I enjoy it? Am I still passionate? If I was to do it all over again would I? What would I have done if I didn’t become a teacher?
I had 3 very interesting and different Prac experiences while I was learning to be a teacher. The first was in a primary school (Year 7) where I learnt the basics. It was a Catholic school and while I am a Christian I am not a Catholic. It showed me that I didn’t want to work for the Catholic Education system. I enjoyed my first prac and knew that I wanted to be a high school teacher by the end of it. The second was in a very rough state school. This as private school girl this was an eye opener for me. My first lesson in the classroom was a year 7, 8, 9 level 1 Typing class. Right in the middle of the Triple the Deputy Headmaster came in and ordered half a dozen students to go and undertake a random drug test. I struggled through this prac as I learnt the unwritten rules. After this prac experience I put my degree on hold to have my family. The last prac was at a Private Independent School and I had a very good mentor who was keen to make sure that I went into the teaching profession with my eyes wide open. It was halfway through this prac that I had a bit of a meltdown. As I drove the 1 1/2 hour trip home with my husband I turned to him and said “If this is what teaching is I’m not sure its what I want to do…” The long hours were getting to me… At the end of the meltdown I had decided that it would be different when I started teaching and had my own classroom and my own students…
And it was… So did I go into the profession blind? I don’t think I did. It was different and I wasn’t prepared for all the paperwork and constant parent interactions but I knew what I was getting myself into.
As for the enjoyment of teaching. I can’t think of anything else that I would enjoy more. In fact I enjoy it so much sometimes that I forget my own family!!! I have a day here and there that get to me because I’m stressed and frustrated. And occasionally it gets me down. But the good days always outweigh the bad. The days where my students triumph and get excited about economic concepts are far greater. I believe I am still passionate about teaching I still get that spark when I start talking about statistics, the economy or that new technological find.
At the end of the day I still would have become a teacher. I became a teacher so that I could continue to learn and to share the passion I have about my areas of interest. I became a teacher so that I could inspire students to go into areas they were passionate about.
And if didn’t become a teacher I would have gone into a profession which required me to learn something new and investigate all the time.
What about you?
Related articles
- Why I never recommend Teaching as a Profession (The Tempered Radical)
- Teaching as a Profession (Successful Teaching)
- My teaching job is a Nightmare! (educationclearinghouse.wordpress.com)
Out of the Gate and Running….
You may know that I’m a runner. I have been running since the day that I came 10th in my Year 8 school cross country carnival. To be honest at the time I had just decided that if I made it to the finish line then it was going to be a good day. Before then I never really thought about running I just did it when we were made to in PE class. Anyway… I always find it interesting every new year as I run my usual running tracks (especially on weekends) that the number of people who are out and about participating in their new found love of running. Now that we are a month into 2012 the number of people out and about is starting to reduce. As with any resolution to make it a habit you have to keep working on it…
I feel this way about how we work with any new idea… I regularly read the Tech Transformation Blog and every so often I read something that makes me think about my habits. Similar to many of the people on my running tracks I get excited and have that initial drive to do something about it and I’m working on it daily until a hurdle stops me in my tracks…
The hurdle this week was stuff… Like every week things happen… great ideas, good opportunities, problems which need solving and as like every week you go with the flow you extend the ideas, take up the opportunities and try to solve the problems. I had a week where I know I did lots of things BUT I feel like I didn’t accomplish anything. Nor do I feel I worked on my goals for the year. So I guess you could say this year I’ve started out of the gate running full pelt to hit a brick wall I’m hoping that this is just the effect of week 1 of the school year and next week the great ideas, good opportunities and problems which need solving, lead me back to finding the passion I’m trying to find…
Related articles
- 2012 – Start The Year With Great Ideas (mookinoodles.wordpress.com)
- 2012 is to Be… (ja.theangellfamily.com)
2012 is to Be…
I know that I reflected on 2011 last post and I know that we are now a week into 2012 however I really have been spending the week reflecting on my life. Most people who know me well know that the last three years have been really hard. I have struggled both personally, and professionally. I’ve spilled many tears and struggled with who I am and what my place is in this wonderful world. I need to know who I am as a daughter, as a mother, as a sister, as a teacher, as a learner, as an ELF. So 2012 is about finding out who I am and what I’m about. I am hoping to post to my blog, this blog at least once a fortnight this year.
My sister gave me a book of sticky notes for Christmas. I know most of you are thinking why on earth would you be excited by a book of sticky notes? This book (Quickie Stickies: 100 Pick-Me-Ups for When You’re Feeling Unglued by Karen Salmansohn) had a quote which I have decided will help me find my focus and my passion this year.
“Make sure your BURNING DESIRE is the light at the end of the tunnel.”
So this year 2012 is going to be my year of PASSION. I’m finding my passion again. I’m finding me.
I hope that you plan to come on the journey with me but understand if you decide it’s time to jump off the train.
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