What it is that I do for a living

So Randalin over at Harvesting Kale found this great link up from the website, Growing up Geeky. It's called Toddle Along Tuesday and there's different topics each week. Just like the "Currently" link up, and the "Me, Myself, and I" link up, it's a chance for me to share a little bit about myself. I was inspired, after reading Randalin's post last night, to write a little bit about what I do for a living.

I am an English teacher. Before I became a teacher I was a newspaper reporter. I love teaching one million times more than being a newspaper reporter. Why? Because I feel like I am having a positive impact on my students. When I was a newspaper reporter, my editors just wanted me to write stories that scared people. I pushed back on that. I liked to write positive stories about things going on in the community. It's what my sources told me they wanted. But my stories didn't make the front page, and they apparently were not what sold newspapers. Nothing mattered to my bosses but the bottom line. So I bailed and went to graduate school to become a teacher, something I had considered doing in college, but chickened out on. Changing careers was one of the most difficult decisions I've made, but one of the smartest.

So here I am. I taught middle school for six years, and in September, I will be teaching high school.

In middle school, you focus on reading strategies, skills, grammatical lessons, sentence structure. You might (re) teach spelling rules. You teach the writing process. You teach the purpose and benefits of revision. You read and analyze novels, short stories, non-fiction, and poetry with the students. In my classroom, I tried very hard to get my students engaged by focusing on student centered activities such as socratic seminars, literature circles, poetry groups, etc. The truth is though, in middle school, it's hard to reach some students. Those students are so focused on their social lives that they don't really pay attention in class or to their homework. And I get it. I remember 7th grade. I remember none of what I learned, but I remember clearly when a boy first asked me out. I remember clearly spending hours on the phone after school with my best friend rehashing the social aspect of the school day.
But this past school year I had the privilege of teaching an amazing group of 8th graders who WERE motivated to learn. I challenged them to think on a different level and they challenged me to teach on a different level. It was then that I realized I was teaching a high school class in junior high, and I absolutely loved it.
So in the Spring I asked for the transfer that had always been a distant dream. I told my supervisor I really wanted to have the chance to teach and inspire older students. I was given the opportunity. My distant dream became a reality. And for that I am grateful.

Teaching was never my "dream job." But after becoming a parent, I let go of my dream job. I like what I do now, and that's enough. It's enough for me to partake in a profession in which I can make lasting connections, and positively influence young minds. That's why I wouldn't trade my occupation for anything else in this world.