View Single Post
Old 05-04-2005, 02:01 PM   #16 (permalink)
abaya
 
abaya's Avatar
 
Location: Iceland
Been "teaching," in one capacity or another, since my junior year in college...

Did a lot of volunteer tutoring as an undergrad, helping elementary kids with reading and stuff. Also taught jr. high kids in rural Thailand for a summer... when I was 18... what an experience!

Then got my secondary teaching certificate (taught 11th and 12th grade English as my internship) when I was 21, taught jr. high summer school, then ran off to Iceland for a year!

However I did not escape teaching there... taught English (language) to Icelandic elementary kids.

Then I came back and taught high school English and U.S. History (11th grade) for a year... loved that, though it killed all life outside of work. I was severely imbalanced that year in terms of social life and taking care of myself. But man that job was fulfillling; at the end of every day I felt like I had done something cool... .

So then I got into grad school and got a TA-ship, so I taught intro cultural anthro 3 times a week to undergrads, for 2 years... and I still have papers to grade for them tonight!!!

If there's one constant about teaching, it's the endless cycle of planning and grading. Oh yeah, and that whole fulfillment bit. But I find college teaching to be the least fulfilling, mostly b/c students just want the credits they are paying for, not an education (not all, but most). Especially if it's just an elective and they're out to earn 6-figure incomes... a social science requirement isn't the most stimulating thing for them. (sigh.) 11th grade U.S. History was my favorite thing to teach... they're still really fresh and honest at that point, and man their bullshit detector is great!! They actually listen to you...
__________________
And think not you can direct the course of Love;
for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

--Khalil Gibran

Last edited by abaya; 05-04-2005 at 02:04 PM..
abaya is offline  
 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360