Tonight I received an email from my professor. Her husband has to have emergency surgery, so my 6 hour class tomorrow was cancelled. Selfishly, I'm of course happy about that. Then I felt like a jerk for being happy. But now as I lay here, knowing I won't be sitting in a six hour Saturday class tomorrow, the happiness is mostly winning. Now I feel bad again.
In theory, I should be done with school in a few weeks. In reality, I feel no more prepared now than I did a year ago. I did my student teaching ten years ago. In a social studies class. In a high school. And somehow that means I'm qualified to teach elementary school? There was no such thing as Common Core then. All along I've been saying I wanted to student teach again. Student teaching sucked, but it was the only semester I learned anything. "Don't do it!" was what I kept hearing, "You've already done it!" I should have trusted my gut. Becoming an elementary school teacher is not an option for me right now. At all. I could go knock on my next door neighbor's apartment and put her in front of a class, and we'd be at about equal levels of preparation.
I've been going over possibilities in my head.
Option 1: talk to my advisor to find out how many more classes I'd need to get my full master's degree, and be able to student teach.
Option 2: find out what classes I'd need to take to get my reading specialist certificate. It's an area of teaching I've always been interested in.
Option 3: pursue Montessori training instead. Often times I sit in class and I feel as though this is not exactly the right fit for me. In the past year, I've met some Montessori teachers. And I've met some regular teachers. The regular teachers have all (jokinglyish) said "DO SOMETHING ELSE!" The Montessori teachers have all said "I love my job!"
Option 4: Apply to work for United. I drive by O'Hare every day on my way to work. It speaks to me. Siri and I have long conversations about what flights are overhead.
Regardless of what I decide, I will be in the Chicago area for a while, which I couldn't be happier about. I love this city! That's easy to say now, when it's warm and Chicago is this
In theory, I should be done with school in a few weeks. In reality, I feel no more prepared now than I did a year ago. I did my student teaching ten years ago. In a social studies class. In a high school. And somehow that means I'm qualified to teach elementary school? There was no such thing as Common Core then. All along I've been saying I wanted to student teach again. Student teaching sucked, but it was the only semester I learned anything. "Don't do it!" was what I kept hearing, "You've already done it!" I should have trusted my gut. Becoming an elementary school teacher is not an option for me right now. At all. I could go knock on my next door neighbor's apartment and put her in front of a class, and we'd be at about equal levels of preparation.
I've been going over possibilities in my head.
Option 1: talk to my advisor to find out how many more classes I'd need to get my full master's degree, and be able to student teach.
Option 2: find out what classes I'd need to take to get my reading specialist certificate. It's an area of teaching I've always been interested in.
Option 3: pursue Montessori training instead. Often times I sit in class and I feel as though this is not exactly the right fit for me. In the past year, I've met some Montessori teachers. And I've met some regular teachers. The regular teachers have all (jokinglyish) said "DO SOMETHING ELSE!" The Montessori teachers have all said "I love my job!"
Option 4: Apply to work for United. I drive by O'Hare every day on my way to work. It speaks to me. Siri and I have long conversations about what flights are overhead.
Regardless of what I decide, I will be in the Chicago area for a while, which I couldn't be happier about. I love this city! That's easy to say now, when it's warm and Chicago is this
and this
and this
6 months from now, I will no doubt be wishing I'd moved to Austin. But in the meantime I'm ready to enjoy summer in my favorite city.
