Becoming a classroom teacher has been a roller coaster ride for me. It all started about 18 years ago... I was in Fourth grade and my teacher had a 'Be a teacher for a Day' event planned. All of the students in the class voted to chose who would be the teacher for one whole day... and they chose me. I remember being so excited and I couldn't imagine what I would teach everyone but I knew that the options were endless. I decided I was going to teach a lesson using "The Lion King" as my guide. I was going to have the class watch the movie and then talk about all the different animals in the movie and what 'The Circle of Life' was. It was amazing and from that day on I knew I wanted to teach. As they years passed, there were other interests that started to form for me, like culinary, biology, the ocean etc. etc. and I decided that I should go to school for Marine Biology. I thought it would be, that I would become a trainer for animals like Killer whales and work in Florida at SeaWorld and everything would be incredible. What I didn't really know, was that Marine Biology is really quite boring to learn about. It is not that fun and it involved being in a lab and even worse... being quiet for hours at a time. I came out of the womb talking, I talk in my sleep, and honestly I talk sometimes without knowing I am actually talking. So the whole Marine Biology thing... just didn't quite work out for me.
I took some time off from school after that thinking, I can totally make a ton of money painting houses.... yeah that also was very short lived and I quickly began realizing how much I missed being in a classroom and how much I really enjoy teaching. See, to this point I had also been teaching swimming lessons for a few years and it kept my teaching passion alive. So I decided that I would check out the local community college and take a couple courses and possibly get my Associates in Education. About a month later, I was starting classes and realized how much I loved learning about teaching. See, I come from a family of educators. My mother is a Guidance Counselor, my Aunt is an Occupational Therapist and my cousin is an Autism Teacher. So I guess education is in my blood.
After working towards my Associates, I transferred to another local College to finish my Bachelors. I was side tracked by how much fun History is (Yes I know... very nerdy of me) and ended up changing my major to European History. This was right before the economy took an even worse nose dive. So upon graduating there were no jobs anywhere, I was actually turned away from a fast food restaurant because they couldn't hire any more people. During the two summers before this point I had gotten a summer job working at an Outdoor Education facility where I got to work with all age groups doing incredible things. I did ropes courses, team building, leadership training, hiking, kayaking.... I got some pretty significant experience and thought that the mix of all of my education and experience would surely land me a great job. Nope.
This is when I started to consider the Peace Corps, and AmeriCorps. I ended up applying and being 'hired' by AmeriCorps (hired is in quotes because if you know anything about AmeriCorps, you know we don't really get 'paid'). My position was working with a mobile food pantry locally where I got to work with many large companies and organizations to recruit and train volunteers to help pack and deliver food to home-bound elderly in the greater metro area. It was an amazing experience and I was lucky enough that when my one year term with AmeriCorps was over, one of the companies I had been working with so closely, hired me into their company immediately. I thought... FINALLY! Things are all going to work out!.... and then I was working a desk job, where I was seated for 8 hours a day and being chained to a desk isn't really an attractive thought for a person like me, so I decided to start going back to school for a Graduate degree in Education. I knew after my first course that I had been foolish to not pursue this more aggressively earlier, but I thought, "Hey I am 26 and I know what I want to do... I'm actually ahead of a lot of people". So as I continue my Grad degree I stop working at the 'desk job' and begin actively searching for teaching jobs. I have me SOE, which is a Statement of Eligibility, for the state saying that given my education and experience, any school can hire me before I actually finish and get my teaching certificate. I thought that this was truly the light at the end of the tunnel.... well that was almost 2 years ago now and I am still not anywhere closer to a job.
As you can imagine, I have applied for at least a few jobs and been on a couple interviews, I have even been offered a couple of jobs, but they didn't seem like the right 'fit' for me.... I did work for a few months with a program working with students who are deemed to be 'High Risk' for dropping out, which was AMAZING and I loved every single day of it, but that was a temporary position and came to an end. I am almost done with a dual Masters in Education, I have 11 years of experience teaching swimming, 3 of which I was a director, I have been Nannying for 5 years, I have 3 years outdoor education experience, I taught English in a foreign country, and I have been subbing in public schools for a year. I LOVE TEACHING. I have energy for days and will do everything include sing and dance for students if it means it will make a difference in their learning. I am versed in the Common Core State Standards, I can write a Behavior Analysis, an IEP with benchmarks, and a Behavior Continuum. I could write you a lesson plan that would blow your mind and I can differentiate instruction as easily as I live and breathe. I have never wanted anything more than I want to be in a classroom. I am not your ordinary run of the mill person and I know that I will make a really great teacher, I know I need to wait until I find the job that I know is meant for me and all my incredible energy. I just wish that job was here now!
You amaze me.
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