For student teaching, we have to do a unit plan with a class for 10 days; it's called LAMP (Learning Assessment Model Project). We have to do a pre-test, the unit, and then a post-test to see if our students improved. This is a little difficult to do in the library.
What I'm doing, though, is working with a senior English class on their research papers. They are coming to the library once or twice a week where I work with them and then they get time to research and work on their papers. Today was technically Day 3 of the unit. But it was also like Day 4 because their teacher, Dr. M., had them come into the library to research on Monday morning. She signed up for that just before school began that morning. I didn't do any kind of lesson with them that morning, but just helped them one-on-one with researching.
Today we talked about keyword searches and subject searches. They did not seem to know the difference even though we talked about it two weeks ago this Friday. They were also just not searching well, so I did a lesson to help clarify some things with them. And I think it helped!
Once they went to research, I noticed they were all doing much better and we were finally getting somewhere! Dr. M. said it usually takes about four days of work before they start getting somewhere and start finding good information. I felt so relieved after today.
Today was also good because we just had a lot of fun during that period. I think the students have finally warmed up to me and are more comfortable with me. We just had a good time and laughed a lot.... and got somewhere with their research. It was great.
Toward the end of class, Dr. M. stopped me for a moment and told me I have a really nice voice. She said I have authority in my voice, but also seem interested in what we're talking about. She said my voice is nice to listen to and isn't boring or too much. She said that is a really important quality to have, which made me feel great! It made me feel like maybe I am going into the right profession.
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With all this crap going on in education in the U.S. I'm starting to feel a little concerned. I have no idea if I will find a job.... and it's really scary. It's a scary time to be graduating from college. I am so afraid I'm just going to have to wait tables somewhere or work at Starbucks or Best Buy. I have no idea what kind of job I will have or where my job will be. My life could end up anywhere in just a few months. Whoa. Scary, but kind of cool. I guess that's the perk of being a young, single, recent college graduate.
Something that would make me more hirable for a school looking to cut back on budgets is that I'm fresh out of college=no experience=cheap. I don't have a master's degree=cheap. So, I'd be okay with getting a job in a school... At least for a while. I don't want to work for jack shit the rest of my career. So I'm thinking there could be a chance I do the school librarian thing for a few years until I feel like I deserve more money, then I'll find a different profession.
I don't know what else I could do. Maybe public library, but I'd definitely want to be in the children's area. That means getting my master's in library science and I'm not sure if I want to do that. I don't know that I like libraries that much.
I also have always been really into historic preservation. Maybe I could get a masters in that. I met someone this past winter who is in the historic preservation masters program at Ball State. I asked him if it's possible to get into that program without having a bachelor's degree in architecture; he said, "Yes, they take anyone." Good to know.
Another thought is that maybe I should just go into the auto parts family business after working for a few years in the big, bad, real world. I could totally learn about auto parts and succeed. Plus, it'd be kinda sweet to be your own boss. It'd also be a little worrisome... since it is your income and all. Plus, how fitting would it be of me? The oldest Cox kid, taking over the family business. Totally.
I've always been sad thinking that someday Farmland Auto Parts will no longer exist. Baxter and Cameron, my cousins, have never expressed much interest in taking over the business (except Cameron's class journal in first grade that said when he grew up he wanted to work at the "otto parts"). I never wanted to take over the store, but I did want it to still exist. So maybe I'll just have to take it upon myself to keep the family business in operation. I'm thinking Baxter could possibly be interested in this too. He and I could definitely take over the Auto Parts.
I was talking to a few of my BSU classmates here. We were on a train traveling to Munich a couple weekends ago, talking about all the shit going on in education right now. It dawned on me that maybe I should take over the business. I was talking about how awesome it would be: I would be my own boss, have pretty good hours, have a job that's not super-stressful (like teaching is!), could ride my bike or walk to work in nice weather (if I lived in Farmland), and could wear jeans and flannel everyday! I said this last part with enthusiasm and a big, genuine smile on my face. One girl exclaimed, "That sounds awful!," referring to the flannel and jeans. I said, "I think it'd be awesome!"
So there's my thoughts about my future.
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In my jungle of a library :)
The pretty amaryllis behind my computer:
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