Please Read CH. 20 of the History and Life of Educators for Tomorrows Class
Write out the history of your future life as if you were featured in a textbook. Make it about college life and what you want to pursue afterward!
Story Behind the Story
Since I was 16 I have known what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to be a high school English teacher. Although with my level of impatience and sarcasm, one would think I would cringe at the thought of being stuck in a classroom with angst filled teenagers every day. However, when I am in the classroom, something just clicks. The same thing happened when I was accepted to the College of Education at the University of Mary Washington. Something just made sense. Whenever I entered a classroom, I wanted students to learn. I wanted to help them and show them that education was more than just something we are required to do. Each time I was given the opportunity to teach, I didn’t want to just teach, I wanted to be able to make it applicable and interesting. I always added some creative element or a way to relate to students (although I am sad to say I dated myself by thinking that a sixth grade class would have read Harry Potter, apparently it is not as big of a deal to them. I just couldn’t believe it). That is part of the reason I registered for this course. I wanted to be able to make English more than just the traditional reading and writing. I want students to see that writing can be in a blog or through posting a video. Heck it can even be seen by photoshopping a cat and a synthesizer in outer space.
This assignment just shows how many different branches spread from something as simple as “writing.” Writing doesn’t have to mean flowery language or excessive imagery. It can be whatever you make it. I also like these types of assignments because they seem simple but in actuality they require a lot of thought. It requires one to think of a particular style of language and forces the writer to write in a different perspective.
Work Itself
Kelsey Roach graduated from the University of Mary Washington in 2015. She spent four years studying English and Secondary Education. While most students enter college with little knowledge about their majors or what career field in which to enter, Roach faced college with a clear vision.
Like any college freshmen, some focus went to socialization and enjoying her youth. Being forced to take mundane General Education classes such as Statistics and Biology, she was hit hard by the overwhelming expectations of college work. She soon discovered the college GPA scale was drastically different than High School. It was a balancing act the first year: wanting to hang out with friends and have fun versus sitting at home hunched over a textbook. High School had been easy; Roach had coasted, not really giving much thought to the importance of grades and GPAs. It was a hard hit when college showed her to become more responsible. She even turned into a little bit of a grab grubber: giver her an 89 instead of a 90 and the world turned on its head. A B versus and A became astronomical.
Once she was accepted to the College of Education, Roach began to observe real world classrooms and teach mini lessons to a variety of levels. With this adult persona, she became even more invested in her education as well as the value of early preparation in schools. She didn’t want others to experience the same “catch-up” game she had to play in her first year of college.
Roach’s balancing act became more attainable when she realized what was truly important. By the end of her four years, she had studied multiple genres and periods of literature and expanded her knowledge of English as a discipline. Her one goal throughout this process was to read every classic or canonical piece of literature she could find.
Having obtained Dean’s List four semesters in a row, Roach graduated from undergrad in 2015. She went on to pursue Graduate school to get her Masters in educati0n. Once she had finished, Roach was selected for the opportunity of a life time to work with Fullbright. Fullbright is one of the most prestigious programs in education in which teachers apply for places all over the world in order to teach abroad. It is also one of the most competitive organizations to be accepted to.
She spent a year abroad, traveling to multiple places such as London, Dublin, Valencia, and Malta to name a few. While some visits were purely for fun, Roach also used the time to discover the numerous education systems that make up each culture.
Upon arriving back in the United States, she took the opportunity to move to a New York. She had no connections, only the desire to keep living in new places. She currently teaches at a public school in New York and continues to pursue the exploration of education.
Narrate the Process
This process took me longer than I had anticipated. I kept deleting and re-writing sentences. Sometimes I would feel like I sounded too much like an “English” major and other times I thought it sounded too simple. It was hard to write in a different voice. I found myself flipping through some old textbooks and trying to emulate the language. It was a step out of my comfort zone but it helped to keep referring back to examples.
As difficult as it was to write in this voice, writing should take you out of your comfort zone. It should force you to change the way you think. If we constantly write in the same way, for the same purpose than what is the point of writing?
It was even harder to write about the future. I thought I knew what I wanted, and while teaching abroad is still a big ticket item on my list, it was hard to say where. I couldn’t figure out exactly what I wanted when I got done with teaching abroad. This post made me realize that there are so many routes to take and giving concrete answers are impossible. So while doing this assignment, it also gave me an opportunity to reflect on the future.