Teaching has appealed to me since I was a child. At first I think this was mostly because I loved the school environment. I loved classrooms and the library and even the cafeteria. Reading and talking about reading were my favorite activities, I was pretty introverted and found it easy to sit still and pay attention, I think I am actually getting worse at this over time.
I attended college at U of M in 2005 and graduated in 2009 with my Bachelor's degree in Creative Writing. At the time I was still thinking about teaching as a possible avenue but to be honest the thought of going straight back into a high school after having been there so recently did not appeal to me at all. So I simply chose the classes and content I liked best without giving much thought to the future.
After college I worked for a couple of years at The Missoulian. I assisted with the creation, editing, and proofing of the ads that went into the paper as well as their website and helped with the daily layout of the paper as well. A long with these duties I supervised 5 other employees with the same job and performed several other miscellaneous duties given to me simply because the Missoulian was insanely short staffed. The struggling state of print journalism is what lead me to leave the Missoulian about a year ago. Once I knew that advertising and sales were not career paths I wanted to pursue, I decided the long stress filled hours weren't really worth it anymore. Instead I took it pretty easy my last year in Missoula, working as a receptionist at Western Montana Clinic, basically enjoying laid back days with friends in a city that I love and miss very much.
Writing (mostly poetry) is still an intense passion of mine, but I have returned to school to get my teaching license because I know it will be a career that I will enjoy a great deal as well but I will also be able to support myself. I came to Bozeman because as much as I love Missoula I needed to start fresh in a new environment to really inspire myself to be successful in this decision. My family as well as my boyfriend Kyle's family both live nearby and we are happy to be able to spend more time with them. I don't know where I want to go with my teaching license geographically, but I am very interested in getting a chance to work with Spanish as well as English speaking students, and would love a chance to go somewhere new.
Emma - I am happy to know all these things about you, and you have a rich background in writing. I'd love to read some of your poetry sometime, if you are willing to share it. And you'll bring a great perspective to a high school classroom as a poet - I am sure you'll have your students working on poems as well as reading them carefully!
ReplyDeleteIf you are still in the area - or anywhere close - after you've been teaching for 2 years, I hope you'll be in touch with me about the Yellowstone Writing Project, which offers free graduate credits but more importantly an intensive summer workshop on writing and the teaching of writing. My sense is you'd be a great fit for it!