plan of action
The first time that I considered teaching was probably in elementary school. It wasn't something that I remained consistently passionate about (I think the profession that intrigued me the most in my youth was being a writer), but it never fully went away. I dressed as a teacher for Halloween one year in middle school. I also volunteered at an after-school program at the public library--I was a "homework buddy" for a couple of elementary school kids. In high school, I worked as a teacher assistant at an after-school reading program at an elementary school for one year. I sort of joined a "Future Teachers of America" group and completed some of the activities, but I started dating Jason around that time and he didn't like the fact that those meetings would steal me away during lunch once a week. I was also a peer tutor for awhile, but again Jason would usually try to distract me. I also went on a field trip to Cal State Hayward to learn specifically about their teaching program.
I didn't think seriously about teaching during my first few years of college. In fact, my lack of interest in teaching was one of the main reasons I gave up on physics. I knew that I didn't want to do physics research in the future, so the only thing that I would consider doing with a physics degree was teaching high school physics. At the time, that wasn't enough of an incentive to continue going crazy trying to balance two completely different majors. Even today, I don't want to teach high school.
However, the field of education slowly crept back into my life. As part of a service-learning class, I was a mentor at an after-school program at Roosevelt Middle School for a semester. I started volunteering with the Eco-Oakland program. I interned at Community Resources for Science last year--an organization dedicated solely to improving science education in elementary school classrooms. And then, of course, I became a campus campaign manager for Teach For America.
You could even say that teaching is in my blood. My Ciocia Ewa was a teacher, my Ciocia Ania teaches catechism and helps with special education kids (her youngest son has some developmental problems), my Ciocia Zosia is a school secretary, and my Ciocia Asia teaches 1-3 grade. My mom is the only one among her sisters who doesn't do something related to education.
I just feel like too many things in my life have led me to consider teaching. I know that there are other things that I could do in education besides teach (policy being the area that intrigues me the most), but I feel like teaching experience would be good preparation for those fields. And really, right now, I think that if I don't try teaching, it'll always be something that I will regret. I need to at least try it out for a few years. Maybe someday I'll change my mind and want to try something else, but in any case, I need to have the chance to get teaching out of my system.
So this is the plan. I am going to apply to the Oakland Teaching Fellows and hopefully try teaching special education in elementary school (the only subjects they have are math, science, and special education). If that doesn't work out, which is quite possible since they're a competitive program, I will apply to Project Pipeline near the end of the school year. I will then either...a) apply to do elementary special education again or b) apply to teach history/social studies in middle school (they don't have regular elementary school).
I didn't think seriously about teaching during my first few years of college. In fact, my lack of interest in teaching was one of the main reasons I gave up on physics. I knew that I didn't want to do physics research in the future, so the only thing that I would consider doing with a physics degree was teaching high school physics. At the time, that wasn't enough of an incentive to continue going crazy trying to balance two completely different majors. Even today, I don't want to teach high school.
However, the field of education slowly crept back into my life. As part of a service-learning class, I was a mentor at an after-school program at Roosevelt Middle School for a semester. I started volunteering with the Eco-Oakland program. I interned at Community Resources for Science last year--an organization dedicated solely to improving science education in elementary school classrooms. And then, of course, I became a campus campaign manager for Teach For America.
You could even say that teaching is in my blood. My Ciocia Ewa was a teacher, my Ciocia Ania teaches catechism and helps with special education kids (her youngest son has some developmental problems), my Ciocia Zosia is a school secretary, and my Ciocia Asia teaches 1-3 grade. My mom is the only one among her sisters who doesn't do something related to education.
I just feel like too many things in my life have led me to consider teaching. I know that there are other things that I could do in education besides teach (policy being the area that intrigues me the most), but I feel like teaching experience would be good preparation for those fields. And really, right now, I think that if I don't try teaching, it'll always be something that I will regret. I need to at least try it out for a few years. Maybe someday I'll change my mind and want to try something else, but in any case, I need to have the chance to get teaching out of my system.
So this is the plan. I am going to apply to the Oakland Teaching Fellows and hopefully try teaching special education in elementary school (the only subjects they have are math, science, and special education). If that doesn't work out, which is quite possible since they're a competitive program, I will apply to Project Pipeline near the end of the school year. I will then either...a) apply to do elementary special education again or b) apply to teach history/social studies in middle school (they don't have regular elementary school).