Quote:
Originally Posted by Sherri Tierney
Oddly, I'm not entirely sure. Sometimes I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up!
Right out of high school, I wanted to be a teacher. I started taking classes in elementary education. I had a teacher who really discouraged me and I made an abrupt change to majoring in accounting. I continued along that path for a little bit, but I was working full time and trying to go to school full time and I wasn't finding it easy. I finally just stopped enrolling in classes. I worked a lot of factory type jobs until 2000 when I lost my job because I had to miss too much work when my grandma had cancer. Grandparents aren't covered under FMLA. She raised me, she needed me and I wasn't going to refuse. Anyway, after that I got pregnant, had babies, and stayed home until the youngest started kindergarten in 2011.
At that point, I wasn't sure what to do. I had started designing when said youngest child was a few months old. I was still designing at this point when he went into kindergarten. I went to a PTO meeting at school and a principal asked me if I wanted a job. Long story short, I started working for the school part time. I did that for 2 years, working as an aide for the in-school suspension room/detention room, when a co-worker who was transferring to a different school asked me if I wanted his job. I laughed. He said I'd be good at it and told the principal as much. The next school year I started in technology. I did that for the last 8 years. Three years ago we started a STEM lab at school and I started teaching STEM classes since our technology lab turned into the STEM lab when the students went 1 to 1 with devices and no longer needed a dedicated lab. Somewhere around the time I started STEM, I went back to school. I had the most classes finished towards the elementary education degree so I decided to go that route for my associates.
That leads me to now... I have one year left for my bachelors degree. I am changing positions next year and leaving technology. My position is actually being eliminated. I was not asked to leave (in fact, I was told I could stay in it as long as I wanted to and it would still be open to me but that after I left the position would be eliminated) and the restructure of the technology department is partially due to my future plans anyway. I told the tech director last summer that I only had a year or two left before moving into a classroom. We have 3 elementary schools and 2 elementary tech aides. One building has not had an aide for the last 8 years because they have not been able to find a person who is qualified in both the technology aspect and doing aide duties. Knowing I would be leaving and that the technology needs would be changing with our implementation of 1 to 1 devices. Last summer the tech director overheard the other elementary tech aide and I talking and I said "Wouldn't it be great if they did away with tech aides at the building level and stationed you at the tech office and then had you roam between buildings?" He loved the idea (and so did she) and the idea for change was born. I could have taught this upcoming year on a limited license but I ultimately decided I didn't want that stress. One of my friends who has worked as a reading interventionist retired at the end of the school year. When I decided not to teach, I was asked to take her place as it was suggested that this would be good experience for teaching. I was quite torn but ultimately decided to give it a whirl. So, after 8 years in tech and 3 years teaching STEM, I will be teaching reading instead.
This time next year I should be readying my first classroom. However, is that my dream job? I don't know. I think so. I want to teach. I have loved teaching technology and STEM. I love the district I work for, the students and their families. I can see myself doing this and being great at it. Somehow though I still keep tossing around ideas in my head of jobs I would like. Most of these are things I could do on the side, or during summer breaks only, if I decided. I'm still full of design ideas and keep saying I'll start dabbling in that again when I'm not in school full time. I have always thought about going into photography, and I love our little farm so the idea of making a living with our livestock and land excites me as well. I guess the dream is doing a combination of all of it.  |
Like, I said, we all keep growing, so I thinking not knowing what your dream job is can be a part of that. I have dabbled a bit with the idea of being a surface designer, which I would love, but I know I don't have the time, or the talent, to be honest. I have also looked into other creative things, but again, time and talent, and also just being happy with what I am doing in the here and now.
I think having something on the side that fulfills a different part of you is also a great idea if you have the time and can balance it all. My son is a teacher, but during the summer, he puts on a different hat and writes. He loves it, but right now it is something he does on the side when he has time. Who knows what he may decide in the future. Just like you, he has time to figure it out at his own pace.