Friday, September 28, 2007

Finding My Calling

I've had a lot on my mind lately.
Sometimes I feel so content but often I am thinking about what the future will look like.
I know I am meant to be a teacher. I love my job and I love my school.
But there are so many roads one can take just in teaching.
I love being in the classroom and the order and the routine matched with unpredictable moments. It truly is the best job in the world to me.
My passion for the kids is what drives me. I love listening to them and talking with them and showing them how important they are. I love being an encouragement and a challenge. I love when they come to me and I get to be a part of their journey in life and learning. It is fun. I know that sounds like a weak way to describe it. But I really do have fun doing that.
I love that even though I have days that I want to quit, or I get mad at one kid or another or allof them, I love knowing that tomorrow is fresh and new and we get to start over. I love working with them on how to have healthy relationships with their friends and relating everything we talk about to God. I love when I am teaching a lesson and God permeates every inch of it and they get so pleasantly surprised that God found his way into our discussion about...character types or The Great Gatsby. I love this job almost but not nearly as much as my family.
I hate grading and always will, but that really is the only consistent downfall to this job.
I have such a great desire to make an impact which is hard because most of the time even if you do make an impact, you never get to know or see the fruits. But I don't care about that. I really love my students and really love watching the individual change and grow and struggle.
So what's my dilemma?
I have a masters in education, which aside from a slight financial increase, hasn't done much for my classroom experience.
I know that my education is not complete.
I want to go back to school, but I have no idea for what degree.
I have so many things yet to do.
Here are the things I am considering:
1. A masters in English (I love the subject and could teach this for a long time)
2. A masters so I can do school counseling (but, can I handle the emotional rollercoaster of dealing with so many problems?)
3. A PhD in something educational which would allow me to teach teachers how to be teachers.
I definitely see myself at the college level someday but even that is such a broad spectrum of possibilities that I don't know where to start.
This is a plea to all who have gone before me and figured this out. How do you know what to choose now to plan for later?
I have to make wise choices because there are two more college students in the making that I have to plan for as well.
I need wisdom and inspiration.

3 comments:

Joel said...

Great thoughts. I have linked to this post on my blog in an article entitled "A Recipe For Less Stress."

As far as encouragement goes, I'd be careful before you go back to school thinking that another degree will help you be a better teacher. Experience is the best educator, especially when you are willing to learn from it.

I am now in my sixth year of teaching and have learned so much more simply by teaching and messing up than I ever learned by sitting in a college classroom...

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Melissa Brosch said...

Well, I'm not sure what to tell you, except...you..me..coffee? I wanna hear about your new girl night that is interfering with EDL! :)