Past Tense Teacher
Teacher Appreciation Day happened this week and I silently salute my former colleagues since I am now a teacher in the past tense.
A funny thing happened on the way to the classroom…
I started out my career with an AA in Early Childhood Education. The two year program held in a brand new interactive classroom was an amazing experience. I learned so incredibly much about little tykes and I also learned it would be difficult to make a sustainable living watching other people’s preschoolers since wages were barely above minimum wage. Hmm, that says something about how society values the care and feeding of our children. Let’s move on.
From there I enrolled in the university’s speech therapy program (having somehow been convinced by my dentist and mother to do so because he wanted to include a speech therapist in his practice and my mother probably liked the prestige of her daughter going into the medical field). I transferred out at the end of the year. Less said the better. Let’s move on.
Another university, another program. This time it’s Outdoor Education(officially dubbed Leisure Studies—I know. Outdoor Education is better for the resume). A BA later and an internship helped me understand this too was not a sustainable career since a camp director lives on site meaning time away from family and most camps are seasonal. Let’s move on.
I like to write. I like the outdoors. How about Environmental Writing? This university needed warm bodies for their new MA in the Teaching of Writing? Okay, I’ll switch. This one had possibilities providing I got hired on at a community college. One local CC with no openings. The library is hiring.
Twelve years later, a big move with a family now in tow I apply for the local high school library position. What? I need a teaching certificate to be a school librarian? More school. What? Budget cuts? The school district can afford a certified librarian? Options?
All those different paths helped me become an English teacher. An ECE degree definitely helped with classroom management (preschoolers and teenagers share distinct similarities), teaching outside the classroom when applicable thanks to Outdoor Education, and an MA in the Teaching of Writing absolutely came in handy. All that library time? What better place to apply literary knowledge than in AP English.
I didn’t intend on being a teacher because given my druthers I would have thoroughly relished being a long term librarian. I did appreciate my time in the classroom and do miss it (at times).
So happy Teacher Appreciation Day to those dedicated to educating our youth.
Pam Webb 