180 days: Before and After
Well, this is it... I'm armed with a keyboard and a new blog, ready to share my experience with all of the world, or at least those who'll care to read it.
180 days as a grade 9 teacher.
Nothing spectacular about that at first glance - thousands of people around the world, in all those countries lucky enough to have mandatory schooling, are actually grade 9 teachers showing up in classrooms and sharing their knowledge with some patience, a large dose of discipline and all the cool teaching methods they learned when they completed their Teaching Degree. And that's where my experience will be unique - or at least my perspective of it all - I am NOT a teacher, I did NOT complete a Teacher's degree, and I have never stepped into a classroom in a teaching capacity. Biology, and Technology are the grade 9 subjects I'll be teaching, as well as running a computer workshop for the 8-graders.
How did this happen? Is the director of that high school crazy to turn over these kids to me? Well, in her defense, here's a bit of my background which has led her to believe I can actually pull this off, and even do a good job to get these kids excited about science.
I'm one of those weirdos who loves school - I completed my first university degree in May 1991 - a bachelor of Biochemistry. In September 1992, after working, buying my first car and gathering some money, I started another degree, Chemical Engineering, which I completed in 1996. To add to the academic challenge, I married in 1995 and decided to have my first child before finishing school so that I could enter the workforce without constantly thinking of that biological clock business... Thus, I was big as a house when I wrote my 7th semester exams, and had the cutest 3-month old boy to look after during my 8th and last semester of engineering school. Challenges such as these are what make life fun, right? I started working when my son turned 1.
Fast forward to February 2005, we now have three kids - my twin girls were born in 2002 and have re-defined the word "challenge". I'm a Project Manager in a biotech company, I absolutely LOVE my job and my co-workers, and BOOM!!! Some investors decide to pull the plug, take their money and run elsewhere with it - and almost everyone is laid off. A good friend of mine mentions that there is an opening for a science teacher - a one-year replacement - where she teaches. This happens to be the school we both went to from Grade 1 to Grade 11, a private, all-girls, nun-run school.
A couple of phone calls later, there I was, faced with a big decision: to be or not to be a teacher for a year...
180 days as a grade 9 teacher.
Nothing spectacular about that at first glance - thousands of people around the world, in all those countries lucky enough to have mandatory schooling, are actually grade 9 teachers showing up in classrooms and sharing their knowledge with some patience, a large dose of discipline and all the cool teaching methods they learned when they completed their Teaching Degree. And that's where my experience will be unique - or at least my perspective of it all - I am NOT a teacher, I did NOT complete a Teacher's degree, and I have never stepped into a classroom in a teaching capacity. Biology, and Technology are the grade 9 subjects I'll be teaching, as well as running a computer workshop for the 8-graders.
How did this happen? Is the director of that high school crazy to turn over these kids to me? Well, in her defense, here's a bit of my background which has led her to believe I can actually pull this off, and even do a good job to get these kids excited about science.
I'm one of those weirdos who loves school - I completed my first university degree in May 1991 - a bachelor of Biochemistry. In September 1992, after working, buying my first car and gathering some money, I started another degree, Chemical Engineering, which I completed in 1996. To add to the academic challenge, I married in 1995 and decided to have my first child before finishing school so that I could enter the workforce without constantly thinking of that biological clock business... Thus, I was big as a house when I wrote my 7th semester exams, and had the cutest 3-month old boy to look after during my 8th and last semester of engineering school. Challenges such as these are what make life fun, right? I started working when my son turned 1.
Fast forward to February 2005, we now have three kids - my twin girls were born in 2002 and have re-defined the word "challenge". I'm a Project Manager in a biotech company, I absolutely LOVE my job and my co-workers, and BOOM!!! Some investors decide to pull the plug, take their money and run elsewhere with it - and almost everyone is laid off. A good friend of mine mentions that there is an opening for a science teacher - a one-year replacement - where she teaches. This happens to be the school we both went to from Grade 1 to Grade 11, a private, all-girls, nun-run school.
A couple of phone calls later, there I was, faced with a big decision: to be or not to be a teacher for a year...
