So in my previous post, one of my followers asked a question that I've attempted to answer (most of). This is from Jacquelineand... (her blog is here, if you want to check it out).
"So, questions, per your
request on your last blog...what led you to teaching, what aspect(s) of
teaching are you most passionate about and how does it tie in with your
feminism, if it does."
Teaching. When I was in grade school I went through a
phase where I said I wanted to be a teacher.
I did no dilly-dallying with being an astronaut or doctor or what have
you. I thought teaching was the most
awesome job in the world. This may have
been because I was privileged to have several very great grade school teachers
who inspired me and all of my teachers were kind and helpful. Though, I’m not really positive. It just seemed like a fun job.
Then I hit high
school. Suddenly teaching just seemed
like a ton of work with little benefit.
My teachers in high school were fine.
I had a few boring ones, maybe one or two that got on my nerves, but
that’s all. I think I finally started to
realize just how time-consuming it was, and in high school you get more glimpses
of the reality of being a teacher.
So, I was off to college,
unsure what to do, but pretty sure it wouldn’t be teaching. I laugh now in retrospect. I did that first year of generals and found I
had a propensity for learning language, especially grammar. With relatively little effort, I understand
the basics of the language and could memorize vocabulary very easily (though
only short term memory…my long term memory is quite average, sadly). I decided to go off to France to have an
adventure. I got into the intermediate
class, did very little and got As (This is not unusual for me. Science and Math are slightly more difficult,
but the arts, piece of cake). I suddenly
came to the realization that I was good enough at it, that I could teach it, and
to me, this was a lovely challenge. I
needed something to do with a French major, so I determined I’d make my
undergrad as useful as possible. I
headed home and got a minor in biology and did a Masters in Teaching program to
endorse both.
Teaching continues to be a
challenge, not a challenge in the sense that its extremely difficult, but it’s
not boring like many other jobs would be for me. I have a voracious mind that loves to learn. I read constantly and love new ideas. Teaching, despite the disadvantages, is the
perfect medium to enhance one’s own learning while helping others to learn.
There you go. This is how I was led to become a
teacher. Many ask why I paired French
and Biology and I always say “I’m good at both, why not?”, so in case you were
wondering…
What I’m passionate the
most about is not necessarily my subjects.
I’m VERY passionate about certain aspects of my subjects and I like the
subjects I teach, but they are not my passion.
My passion is and always has been to help someone understand something
they did not before and to help others expand their knowledge and their own
thinking capabilities. This can be done
in any subject, so I just picked two that I liked. Believe me, there a so many other subjects I
could’ve picked instead that I would love to teach equally. I love tackling the controversial topics
within each of my subjects and to plant new ideas in my student’s heads. I love it when they come up with a new
approach to a problem that I didn’t think of.
I love seeing the wheels turning upstairs. I love making them second-guess the things
they had always been told were true.
:P And, I’m passionate about high
school age kids. They are the cream of
the crop, imo. They are just starting to
become adults. They have so much passion
and life, if only we could tap into it.
They love and hate so easily, which makes teaching the exact opposite of
boring. Their problems are so
fascinating and I have this burning desire to help them make the transition to
adulthood smoother. They are so much
easier to reason with and they get my weird jokes. I LOVE teenagers!
I will have to leave the
rest of the question to another post since this is getting quite long. More to come!
•
taste: Girl Scout Cookie Thin Mints. I think they're gone now.
see: Sims 3, was playing this for a couple hours this evening.
hear: Sims 3 theme music. It's pretty catchy. ;)
smell: Hmmm, not much?
touch: my warm fuzzy blanket wrapped around me. (We try to limit our electricity)
think: That my hubby and I have got it pretty good. Much better than some that's for sure.
feel: content and a lil sleepy.
via
