Long ago and far away in another galaxy, I had several iterations of post-college "adulthood" that did not included being a public school teacher. Along the way I have been
- a house cleaner
- a personal care assistant for disabled people
- a church musician
- a bookkeeper
- a massage therapist
- a tax preparer
- a real estate agent (I was even Rookie of the Year!)
- an assistant in special education classrooms
- a substitute teacher
And I was fairly dissatisfied. When I began working in schools, I started to feel like I was in the right work environment -- there is a culture to public schools, and while they are each unique in their own way, every time I stepped into a school building, a familiar sense of purpose and clarity settled over me. I always loved school as a kid, although I was not immune to some of the cruelty and social trickiness dealing with other students could create. I always thought school was important and it was a place where I was successful. I was a good student, while not being a suck up, and I would consider myself a Life-long learner. I have continued my formal education with graded coursework at a variety of institutions, lately Harvard, and have also studied a variety of spiritual traiditons, martial arts and yoga. And I read everything, pretty much.
The reader's digest of my story is that after 9 years in California, I moved back to the Boston area to complete a Master's program in education. I taught elementary school for 6 years, and am in year 4 of teaching high school. I am not a young woman, but am not old, either. This blog is about what teaching is like from my perspective.
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