May 12, 2011
A New Challenge
Now that I’ve spent over six years getting my Bachelors and Masters degrees in English, you’d think I’d be all set to teach English, right?
I mean, that’s what my resume says I’m qualified for… and yet, I may have an opportunity to do something very different next year. For some reason, there’s a school that is interested in me for a 9th grade position to teach Government, Economics, and World Religion. My first thought is, are you crazy?! It says English on my label! I never took Govt. or Econ. and never really missed it either. However, English jobs are not raining from the sky at the moment, so how can I turn down a school that is interested in me?
And then I remembered my first teaching job, right after I graduated college (in ENGLISH). I got hired four days before my start date and was asked to teach a Social Studies class on Africa and the Middle East– with no textbook and no pre-planned curriculum. I was stunned and terrified and completely engaged, and it was the most challenging and fascinating job I’ve ever had. I think I called my mom almost every day after school to tell her what I had taught and what my students had to say about it.
Suffice it to say that together my students and I learned so much that year, and I loved (almost) every minute of it. So can I translate that hunger for knowledge into an interest in government and economics? I’m definitely interested in world religions, but politics and money? The fact is, it’s a foot in the door at a great school. Should I trust my own potential and go for it, or hold out for an English opportunity?
a care in the world 
Jessica said,
May 13, 2011 at 9:21 pm
Dorsett, you have such such guts! I say you trust your potential and go for it! I have spent a lot of time feeling anxious about moving to another continent AND planning curriculum (which I have never done)–the double whammy. But your courage and honesty is so inspiring–nice to know I’m not alone in my doubts! Yet, I’m reminded of this quote I saw on a satchel the other day–“The greatest risk is a risk not taken.”