As the end of my second-ever school year as a high school educator winds down, I find myself here, in front of a computer screen, building a website seemingly from scratch with plans of grandeur to spend the summer improving and perfecting my courses.
It being my second summer after a long, hard year of the madness of teaching, I know these plans have a high chance of falling off the rails. I could decide to give up and hit the pool the second Memorial Day hits. Or maybe a blog could go really well for a period only to meet the intense 0-to-60 lifecycle of a teacher when August punches you in the face. The start of school means plans are either put into action on the front lines or completely aborted with an internal scream of "MAYDAY! MAYDAY!" (In two years, I've learned teachers are the foot soldiers of every school).
But anyway, I've started a blog.
I work at an all-girl Catholic High School in the midwest, and I adore it. It's actually my alma mater, so it's strange yet fascinating to be back. It's both the Wizard of Oz and the man behind the curtain all at once. But the real kicker is:
I'm not even a teacher.
Or at least, I'm not certified. And I didn't go to school for it. I have my B.A. in Journalism and Media and my Master's in Communication. I spent a few years working for higher ed, then a year or so moving into a different time zone and making a living as a Videographer for a non-profit sorority headquarters. I've freelanced photography and videography do wedding shoots on the side. All this is to explain that I'm not unqualified - I'm simply fresh. Very fresh. But even so, I teach
Journalism
Layout & Design
Multiplatform Media
Yearbook &
Newsmagazine
I've come to realize that the corporate or freelance world of design is vastly different from the teaching world.
And even in the teaching world, a number of the classes listed above are in their own worlds even within the teaching world. It's Crisis on Infinite Earths planet inception but for education (shoutout to any comic book readers out there).
So even though I may still feel "fresh" as a freshman, it seems I've found a calling and I'm headed into the summer before my junior year. I hope to use this website as a way to recall, rejoice and perhaps reconnect with all the ups and downs, twirly whirlies and oopsie daisies of life as a teacher - specifically a publications teacher.
Peace, love and salutes, fellow marchers
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