Me . . . Teach? Why, yes!
I can clearly remember having to make a lesson for my math class in seventh grade and teach it to the class. I didn't like it. Of course, while I am good at Algebra and tutoring it, teaching math is nowhere near my forte. However, with that one little bit of teaching, I thought, "I don't want to do this."
With that, I went to high school thinking that I wasn't going to teach. I had to do tutoring for National Honor Society and we did tutoring for Mu Alpha Theta, but I didn't think I'd want to teach. During tutoring for National Honor Society, I sat and wrote out an explanation of things for algebra with one student that needed tutoring because she wasn't getting it. I started with the basics, "This is X. X is a variable. Any letter can be a variable, but they don't tend to use O since it can look like a zero . . ." I had a notebook page full for her. She asked me, "Are you going to be a teacher? You'd be good at it." I told her that I liked tutoring, but I didn't want to be a teacher.
I went to college with the idea of being a journalist. I had that idea in my head ever since writing my term paper in 9th grade since we had to write it on a profession in which we might be interested and I chose journalism. I liked writing the paper and finding out about what the books said a journalist should learn. I was determined that I was going to be a journalist.
Sure, I had theatre experience and took theatre classes in high school, but I thought that theatre would just be something I did for fun. Most people I knew did theatre for fun and that would be me, too. I was also using theatre in Youth Ministry and I had no idea that people actually got paid to do Youth Ministry. Everything, other than the position of pastor and organist, at the church I attended at that time was a volunteer position.
So, I went to college with the idea of being a journalist. I loved the majority of my classes for journalism. The ones I didn't like as much were the television classes because I was interested in writing. The part I didn't like about writing were sports articles. I had two articles that I wrote for class get published in the Lake Charles American Press, so I thought I was going to do well.
Come time for the Internship, even The Contraband people were terrible. They were supposed to be in the office and they were never there when I went to the office or when I called. They never contacted me. Even though I constantly told other places that I needed an internship and it didn't have to be paid, they all told me that they didn't have a position for an intern.
So, I graduated from McNeese. I looked for journalism jobs (and I was already helping to take care of my Daddy because he had already had his left leg amputated below the knee and kept having problems).
I had found out about paying positions in Youth Ministry, so I would apply to positions for that. I went on so many interviews. There was a time that I was flying to a new city almost every month, it seemed.
Yet, I never got a job. I was very confused. Once place was very honest. They really liked me, but they thought I was "too nice" and wouldn't be able to handle the people who thought spending the money on youth ministry was a waste.
I found online writing. I learned all about keywords, keyword percentages, search terms, SEO, CMO, and so much more. If I talk about it to most people, they seem to act like I'm speaking a foreign language and to them, it probably is. Just the letters "SEO" can confuse people.
While I do like writing, I would get tired of all the SEO, but I definitely understand it and keep up with it.
My Daddy passed away in May 2008. McNeese counseling helped me at that time.
My favorite articles that I wrote were not the ones that followed SEO, but the ones that I wrote that taught others things, especially the ones about phrase origins.
I did a lot of writing. I had to write at least three articles each weekday most of the time. I tried to write more than that on most days.
My Mama passed away in September 2012 and things were difficult, but eventually (5-7 months as seems to be common for situational grief for me), but I managed to get back into writing articles.
At that time, Briana was going to Sowela, and we often both talked to the counselor, Dr. Thomas, about our mother before she passed away. Then, of course, she saw us after that happened. I told her that I wanted to get into the MFA program at McNeese and Briana read one of my stories to her. She asked me what I wanted to with that degree. Now, my usual response would have been, "I don't know." If prompted for more, I would say that a Master's Degree would be nice to have to get a better job, but I didn't know what I was meant to do.
I opened my mouth to say, "I don't know," and the next thing I knew, I had said, "Teach." For the rest of that day, I was in shock and praying because that hadn't been my thoughts. I kept praying and asking God because that was extremely strange. However, I will say that it is not the first time that God has made me say something and I had no idea about teaching. However, the more I prayed over the nights and days, things seemed to come up.
What I do know is that over the years, I've had various people tell me that I would be a good teacher. I would just wave it off and not think about it.
I had a certain internet writing job for years. I liked that company best for writing. It closed down and that was no longer a writing option.
I had a person tell me that you needed at least 18 hours of graduate school to teach at the college level. I thought I'd try to get into the MFA. Being tied to Lake Charles made it difficult for me with graduate school and I had looked into MFAs in creative writing. It's not that they were bad, but it could be difficult to tell as many of them were from schools that didn't have accreditation from any reputable sources. That didn't happen, so I thought I'd try to get into the MA in English program. The board wanted me to take some more English classes to prepare for it, so I took those classes. I didn't end up getting into the MA in English, either. I don't think the analytical stuff is for me. The creative stuff is more my side, other than trying to keep up with copyright laws (well, honestly, I had never truly dealt with music, but only writing) and knowing things like what is plagiarism, fair use, defamation, libel, slander, etc.
I decided that since I already had a minor in theatre and enjoyed it, that it would be good to have a good background in theatre along with my Mass Communications degree and now I have enough classes for an English minor, too.
I am definitely enjoying theatre. I kept sending on inquiries to colleges asking if they offered any type of "cross campus" learning to see if I would have to see if McNeese would be responsive, but while some liked the idea, they said they didn't have the ability. While searching, I found Regent university which offers an MA in theatre online. I am not interested in the performance side of theatre (even though it can be fun, I honestly am not a person who wants to be on stage all that much . . . especially since I never know how my back is going to feel from day to day).
And of course, things keep coming up that seem that need classes . . . but of course, they aren't offered. I am looking into proposing the classes when I have time, though. I started with the SEO/CMO class, but I put that on hold to go back to school since I was serious about that class.
Now, things have come up in theatre at McNeese and it made me realize how much a theatre law and ethics class is needed. Sure, a lot about theatre is learned at McNeese. However, people don't have to learn about copyrights and licensing and related subjects which are extremely important subjects. Of course, I want to learn as much as I can learn about theatre, too.
So, where I am right now is looks like applying to Regent University at some point in the fall semester and graduating from McNeese in December 2015. Then, I'll be doing online school through Regent University and I'll be able to be involved with McNeese's productions and other things that happen at McNeese. Eventually, wherever I start teaching and at whatever level doesn't matter as long as I'm doing what God wants me to do, I'll propose the SEO/CMO class and the Theatre Law and Ethics class to different places to see if those classes could become viable classes at the institutions.
With that, I went to high school thinking that I wasn't going to teach. I had to do tutoring for National Honor Society and we did tutoring for Mu Alpha Theta, but I didn't think I'd want to teach. During tutoring for National Honor Society, I sat and wrote out an explanation of things for algebra with one student that needed tutoring because she wasn't getting it. I started with the basics, "This is X. X is a variable. Any letter can be a variable, but they don't tend to use O since it can look like a zero . . ." I had a notebook page full for her. She asked me, "Are you going to be a teacher? You'd be good at it." I told her that I liked tutoring, but I didn't want to be a teacher.
I went to college with the idea of being a journalist. I had that idea in my head ever since writing my term paper in 9th grade since we had to write it on a profession in which we might be interested and I chose journalism. I liked writing the paper and finding out about what the books said a journalist should learn. I was determined that I was going to be a journalist.
Sure, I had theatre experience and took theatre classes in high school, but I thought that theatre would just be something I did for fun. Most people I knew did theatre for fun and that would be me, too. I was also using theatre in Youth Ministry and I had no idea that people actually got paid to do Youth Ministry. Everything, other than the position of pastor and organist, at the church I attended at that time was a volunteer position.
So, I went to college with the idea of being a journalist. I loved the majority of my classes for journalism. The ones I didn't like as much were the television classes because I was interested in writing. The part I didn't like about writing were sports articles. I had two articles that I wrote for class get published in the Lake Charles American Press, so I thought I was going to do well.
Come time for the Internship, even The Contraband people were terrible. They were supposed to be in the office and they were never there when I went to the office or when I called. They never contacted me. Even though I constantly told other places that I needed an internship and it didn't have to be paid, they all told me that they didn't have a position for an intern.
So, I graduated from McNeese. I looked for journalism jobs (and I was already helping to take care of my Daddy because he had already had his left leg amputated below the knee and kept having problems).
I had found out about paying positions in Youth Ministry, so I would apply to positions for that. I went on so many interviews. There was a time that I was flying to a new city almost every month, it seemed.
Yet, I never got a job. I was very confused. Once place was very honest. They really liked me, but they thought I was "too nice" and wouldn't be able to handle the people who thought spending the money on youth ministry was a waste.
I found online writing. I learned all about keywords, keyword percentages, search terms, SEO, CMO, and so much more. If I talk about it to most people, they seem to act like I'm speaking a foreign language and to them, it probably is. Just the letters "SEO" can confuse people.
While I do like writing, I would get tired of all the SEO, but I definitely understand it and keep up with it.
My Daddy passed away in May 2008. McNeese counseling helped me at that time.
My favorite articles that I wrote were not the ones that followed SEO, but the ones that I wrote that taught others things, especially the ones about phrase origins.
I did a lot of writing. I had to write at least three articles each weekday most of the time. I tried to write more than that on most days.
My Mama passed away in September 2012 and things were difficult, but eventually (5-7 months as seems to be common for situational grief for me), but I managed to get back into writing articles.
At that time, Briana was going to Sowela, and we often both talked to the counselor, Dr. Thomas, about our mother before she passed away. Then, of course, she saw us after that happened. I told her that I wanted to get into the MFA program at McNeese and Briana read one of my stories to her. She asked me what I wanted to with that degree. Now, my usual response would have been, "I don't know." If prompted for more, I would say that a Master's Degree would be nice to have to get a better job, but I didn't know what I was meant to do.
I opened my mouth to say, "I don't know," and the next thing I knew, I had said, "Teach." For the rest of that day, I was in shock and praying because that hadn't been my thoughts. I kept praying and asking God because that was extremely strange. However, I will say that it is not the first time that God has made me say something and I had no idea about teaching. However, the more I prayed over the nights and days, things seemed to come up.
What I do know is that over the years, I've had various people tell me that I would be a good teacher. I would just wave it off and not think about it.
I had a certain internet writing job for years. I liked that company best for writing. It closed down and that was no longer a writing option.
I had a person tell me that you needed at least 18 hours of graduate school to teach at the college level. I thought I'd try to get into the MFA. Being tied to Lake Charles made it difficult for me with graduate school and I had looked into MFAs in creative writing. It's not that they were bad, but it could be difficult to tell as many of them were from schools that didn't have accreditation from any reputable sources. That didn't happen, so I thought I'd try to get into the MA in English program. The board wanted me to take some more English classes to prepare for it, so I took those classes. I didn't end up getting into the MA in English, either. I don't think the analytical stuff is for me. The creative stuff is more my side, other than trying to keep up with copyright laws (well, honestly, I had never truly dealt with music, but only writing) and knowing things like what is plagiarism, fair use, defamation, libel, slander, etc.
I decided that since I already had a minor in theatre and enjoyed it, that it would be good to have a good background in theatre along with my Mass Communications degree and now I have enough classes for an English minor, too.
I am definitely enjoying theatre. I kept sending on inquiries to colleges asking if they offered any type of "cross campus" learning to see if I would have to see if McNeese would be responsive, but while some liked the idea, they said they didn't have the ability. While searching, I found Regent university which offers an MA in theatre online. I am not interested in the performance side of theatre (even though it can be fun, I honestly am not a person who wants to be on stage all that much . . . especially since I never know how my back is going to feel from day to day).
And of course, things keep coming up that seem that need classes . . . but of course, they aren't offered. I am looking into proposing the classes when I have time, though. I started with the SEO/CMO class, but I put that on hold to go back to school since I was serious about that class.
Now, things have come up in theatre at McNeese and it made me realize how much a theatre law and ethics class is needed. Sure, a lot about theatre is learned at McNeese. However, people don't have to learn about copyrights and licensing and related subjects which are extremely important subjects. Of course, I want to learn as much as I can learn about theatre, too.
So, where I am right now is looks like applying to Regent University at some point in the fall semester and graduating from McNeese in December 2015. Then, I'll be doing online school through Regent University and I'll be able to be involved with McNeese's productions and other things that happen at McNeese. Eventually, wherever I start teaching and at whatever level doesn't matter as long as I'm doing what God wants me to do, I'll propose the SEO/CMO class and the Theatre Law and Ethics class to different places to see if those classes could become viable classes at the institutions.