So, instead of doing my work, I am going to take a little break to daydream about the future...
I am so ready to graduate.
If you know me, then you know that I have waffled a lot when trying to decide what I want to be when I grow up, but the closer I get to graduation, the more sure I am that I made the right decision choosing Secondary English Education as my major. I hate all the paperwork that accompanies being a teacher (it is totally ridiculous), but I absolutely love being in front of a classroom and teaching. It is a good place for me - I love the students and the subject that I will be teaching, and it is a job where I can have financial security and stability and still have tons of time off in the summers and on holidays to write and travel and do the things I want to do.
Deciding to be a teacher was not easy for me. I have a lot a friends who are teachers, and, although I love them, I have to be honest here...teachers get on my nerves. I can't tell you how many times I have heard teachers gripe about their jobs and complain about their pay and go on and on about how unappreciated they are. That bugs me. As a future educator, I am going into this understanding that it is a career that I chose. I decided that it is what I wanted to do. I believe that teaching is a gift and a calling, but it is not forced upon anyone. It is something that a person willingly decides to pursue as a career. So I don't understand all the complaining.
I am not going into teaching to become wealthy. I am doing it because it is a good, reliable career that will supply me with enough money to live comfortably while allowing me to do something that I enjoy. I don't expect to become rich, and I don't expect to be treated like a hero for teaching a child how to read. Yes, I hope that I will have a positive influence on my students, but I know that teenagers rarely tell you that you made a difference in their lives (mostly because it is not until later in life that they realize that the lessons you taught them were actually important). I don't need to be praised just for doing my job.
One of the things that I am most excited about when it comes to teaching is interacting with my future students. I love to see the look on a child's face when he or she really gets the point of a lesson. You can literally see the light bulb come on when you look into their faces and you just know that they are getting it. That is a great feeling.
I also want to show my students that learning can be fun. I am an English nerd, so I love to read and I even love a good lecture, but I know that most students do not like either of those things. With the help of one of my art professors, I have been creating active, art-integrated lesson plans to really help my students connect with the material that I will be teaching. I am so excited to actually get into a classroom and put all these plans into action. If you have ever seen the movie Freedom Writers with Hillary Swank, then you have seen the kind of teacher I want to be. It won't be easy to teach like that, but it will be so worth it.
I am also ready to graduate because it means that I can do a little traveling and a lot more writing. I love to write, but academic papers are not my thing. Creative writing is so much more fun, and it is hard to do that when you have so many other things on your plate and so many other due dates and deadlines to juggle. Hopefully, this summer will be my chance to get some major writing done (I am working on a novel, after all, and I need some time to dedicate to that. Gotta cross that one off the Bucket List!).
I have a huge list of things that I want to do, but here are the top ten things I am most looking forward to after graduation:
1. Going to the Memphis in May BBQ Competition with my Papaw
2. Reading a book of my choosing by the pool, just for FUN
3. Finishing my short story collection
4. Going to Atlanta to see the Braves play
5. Going to the beach
6. Finally running that 5K that I am always talking about
7. Finding a teaching job!!! (I should probably have this in the #1 spot, actually...)
8. Paying off my debts. I didn't have to get many student loans, but the ones I did get are not going to be around long, if I can help it. Trying to live as debt free as possible.
9. Landing a freelance writing gig with a newspaper or magazine.
10. Sleeping late. I can not wait to sleep late.
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