If you are "In Education", what is it you do? Coming out of Holy Cross, I always saw myself as a teacher and a coach, and I did those things for a long time. I came to see myself as an administrator, and I have been doing that for a while.
However, there is so much more to what American education involves than merely those positions. Many of you are well aware of that because you work with state boards of education. You are involved in testing corporations. You coordinate Teach for America candidates. You fund raise. You represent higher education. You represent text book and on-line learning corporations. And so much more.
For the sake of helping us all learn more, please take some time in comments to tell what is is you do, what it involves, and how you came to that position. This is for all of you, even those of us inside schools. I will add a comment later myself.
My hope is that we can all get a sense of what is out there, and we can also share with current students the notion that they can be involved in education even if teaching is not a great fit for them.
However, there is so much more to what American education involves than merely those positions. Many of you are well aware of that because you work with state boards of education. You are involved in testing corporations. You coordinate Teach for America candidates. You fund raise. You represent higher education. You represent text book and on-line learning corporations. And so much more.
For the sake of helping us all learn more, please take some time in comments to tell what is is you do, what it involves, and how you came to that position. This is for all of you, even those of us inside schools. I will add a comment later myself.
My hope is that we can all get a sense of what is out there, and we can also share with current students the notion that they can be involved in education even if teaching is not a great fit for them.
I got into teaching and coaching because I wanted to work with high school aged students. After HC, I went to Adelphi to get a masters degree in secondary education. Then I went to Cathedral High School in Boston.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started applying for jobs, I thought I would be a History teacher and swim coach for my entire career. As it turned out, I taught more English than social studies, also did a bit of math and business. As it turned out, I coached volleyball, basketball, softball and baseball at the high school varsity and jv levels. Never coached swimming, but I loved the rest.
As a teacher, I got to work with all levels of student, from ELL to AP and IB. I also got to teach in Ecuador and the Philippines and travel those regions extensively. Teaching and coaching were a blast.
I became an administrator because I want to be able to effect change on a larger level. As a principal I was able to create community partnerships, develop leadership and team building opportunities for students and staff, work with schools in Europe and China to have cultural exchange opportunities, and grow service learning opportunities.
Currently, I am principal of an alternative high school in Fitchburg, MA, and I am working hard to develop internship opportunities for students, and work with area colleges and businesses to be able to give students course credit for meaningful programs related to careers and skill development.
I am also now really interested in seeing what else I can do that is related to education but outside of a single school.
At HC, I thought teaching WAS education. I loved teaching, and I think I was good at it, but I now see that there is so much need to make education better in the US, and I want to see if there are other ways I can do more.