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28 March 2006
CuriosityFilter: How many teacher-types do we have out there? (In here?)
I'm not a teacher, and lack the ability to pass on any kind of clear, meaningful, lasting tuition. However, my mum and my sister are both teachers. Go figure.
Does teaching Sunday school very, very briefly when I was in high school count? Loq, I think it is a requirement that Sunday school teachers be naughty.
My dad used to be a college professor of sociology, and my mom used to teach English. They are some smart cookies.
I studied education and taught for three years after college. After that, I moved into experiential education and taught environmental ed. for two years. At that point I transitioned to museum education, and now work in museums in an administrative capacity. I deliver a lot of talks, if that counts.
Sometimes, friends in academia have me cover a class for them when they travel. I've lectured in literature (my other degree), maritime history, and museum education and theory.
Miko & I are close to the same person. I got a BA in art history & studio art, realized they only gave fries with that & got a 2nd BA in art education, moved into museum education, did that for six years, started doing museum PR & communications, tried to become a curator of education, failed, sat on my ass for 8 months and am now trying to either a) become a curator of education again (the one they hired instead of me just quit because my ex boss is a psychopathic bitch from hell) or b) go back to school & become an elementary school ESL teacher.
I tutored some kids in high school, including one short, dumb cheerleader who for some strange reason was still in all the honors classes and had a face like a horse and a kid who was younger than me by a year and I had a big crush on.
I have a sister who's a teacher and though I have a huge respect for them, I had a complex about potentially being one for a while because every time I told someone at college that I was taking English classes, someone invariably asked me if I wanted to be a teacher.
What I always wanted to say in reply was, "NO, I DO NOT WANT TO BE A TEACHER. I AM TAKING THESE CLASSES SO I CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW TO CONSTRUCT DIFFERENT KINDS OF NOVELS, SHORT STORIES AND POETRY SO THAT I CAN EITHER BE A FANTASTIC WRITER OR A FANTASTIC EDITOR.
I feel your pain, TrishaLynn. I was a lit major before I switched to journalism. When people asked what I wanted to be after graduation I would tell them, "really, really pretentious."
I have done some teaching (computers), but am not a teacher by trade. I do work on the periphery of academia, but the government side. You know how it is - those who can, do while those who can't, teach and those who can't teach, administrate.
I did a bit of tutoring in high school and college. Also TAed what was called "nursing chemistry" labs for a couple of years while in college. There wasn't a grad program in chemistry where I went, so they used upper level undergrads for the lower level classes. Then, I was a technical writer/editor until I had my kids (too many 60-hour weeks on salary). And now, I teach college kids and faculty to use computers in labs on campus. It keeps me on my toes, since I have to know most, if not all, the applications we have installed.
My Dad has been a teacher my whole life. I've about decided to just give in to the genes and give the classroom a try. (I may also be a masochist. heh)
photo by splunge
photo by TheophileEscargot
photo by Kronos_to_Earth
photo by ethylene
