A opportunity has come up for me to nanny in the USA for a year. A friend of mine has been working for this family for the past year and has really enjoyed the experience but she will be leaving early next year and has offered letting the family know I would like to do it if I'm interested. I've always wanted to live in the States for at least a little bit, but tried to get uni over and done with first, and then I needed to work to get money and one thing led to another, and I never took the opportunity.

I think it would be a fantastic experience and I can get a year off work and still have a guaranteed job when I come back, but I'm already planning on traveling to the US and Europe at the end of this year and I've put a lot of money into the trip. I am trying to sort out the financial aspects of traveling over there to work for a year on top of that, and had originally planned to save for a year after the holiday to take a year off (as in I was thinking of traveling in 2007). I just think that opportunities often happen for a reason and wonder if I pass up the opportunity I'll be passing up something that was meant to happen...again I'm a believer in fate.

I can't help thinking that this opportunity turning up at a time like this, when I'm ready for a different experience, is speaking volumes in terms of change.

Any opinions?

This unfortuantely isn't a post about having a fantastic day and rethinking my last post, just a little more info.

One reason I chose teaching was because some of my previous teachers inspired me. Call me naieve, but that was in the day when I thought most people listened in class. Being in top classes I didn't realise that not everyone respected their teachers. I mean don't get me wrong, I did my fair share of mucking up for a casual, or being a smart alec, but I never swore at a teacher, was scared if I got called to the head teacher or principal unlike now when it's just another part of a kids day, and rarely did I know anyone who got suspended more than a couple of times (unlike some kids I teach who would have been expelled from the school if they were old enough due to having an almost permenant suspension).
Yes these things have all happened to me in the past few years.
I've had my car vandalised twice just because some kids from school were drunk at a party in the area and thought it would be a laugh, I've been sworn at, I've been spat at, I've had objects thrown at me some of which has been difficult to prove.

Some kids now days are a struggle to teach. I walk into a class room, and even trying to get the kids quiet can give you a headache. There are some who are fantastic, respond to all your questions, complete all their work, yet in the same class you have kids who struggle to read let alone write, and others who are just too lazy to even put pen to paper. The kids who struggle feel the system has let them down, and because they don't believe in themselves just say they can't do it. No matter how often you give them 1 on 1 attention they still don't respond. In a class of 30 kids this is also very difficult to do as well as controllong the class.

I've tried talking calmly, I've tried yelling, detentions, rewards, you name it I've tried it, but there are still some students who refuse to respect others right to learn. I've tried explaining to some kids as individuals that they have the potential to do well if they only tried, and that learning this information is for their benefit, but I'm talking to a brick wall.

In my last blog, someone posted a comment about the differences one individual can make, and in some ways this is the reason I chose to teach, but these kinds of occurrance now days is rare.
During my teaching prac I had a great experience where I really got through to some of the kids in what has previously been called an uncontrollable class and it felt like I had finally achieved something.
Unfortunately this is not a common situation anymore.

I coach a few sports and this is where I see most the changes that occur in kids, the confidence you can develop, or even the social power of long lasting friendships. The way these kids treat you with respect because you have been able to teach them in a way no one has before. The difference is these kids want to learn the sport otherwise they wouldn't be there. They have a sense of commitment and commeraderi.

I've tried changing ways I teach the content, and for some reason the boring ways of chalk and talk, or worksheets is the only thing most kids can handle. In this I feel sorry for the students who really would like a challenge, something they can strive towards, but in the majority of classes, things like this just don't happen anymore.

I was talking to a teacher at my school today who is on exchange from another country. We just had a chat about the kids here, and teaching, and how things are different. She said although she has had a good experience here, she can't wait to get back, because in comparison to her school we have it pretty tough... and I am supposedly at one of the best public schools in my state.

These things make me wonder if it is the career, or just the school I am at, but I think after another year I'll have to try something completely different just for the sake of trying it.

Hi Fellow bloggers,
before I start I should give you a little info bout me. I'm a 23 (almost 24)yrold who has generally been happy with life and what I've done in some ways. I mean I haven't always been happy, when I was at uni I suffered from clinical depression for a little while, but generally speaking most of the time I feel ok. I haven't felt really happy or excited over anything in a long time, almost since I was at High school, and in some ways starting this blog collection is a way to help me sort myself out and figure out what I want to do in life. Hopefully with some purpose or some goal I may be able to experience some more emotional extremes rather than just feeling, well..Blah

When I did my final school exams I wasn't sure of what I wanted to do with my life, but I was fairly interested in health so I considered for a little while doing medicine or physio, or something generally health orientated.
Unfortuantely I knew I wasn't going to get the marks for those high achieving occupations so I was looking at excercise science or sports therapy, but when results came out I didn't get the marks for that either. Now I could have had a year off and applied for something later when I had more time to think, but my parents are a little pushy...

I've always been the perfect student...the kind of person who does the school service, community service thing, always in top classes, always an A student. I play musical instruments, in school got great marks for my major art works... you know the drill. My parents both went to uni straight after school and expected me to do the same. So I just fell into the next best thing my marks would get me into - teaching.

The uni course was pretty good, I enjoyed some of it. Didn't feel like i was really extatic or really interested in anything, but felt I was supposed to be there for a reason. Kind of a fate thing. I mean I had to have gotten lower marks (still good marks) than I expected for some kind of reason, and I hoped it was because I was meant to look at other avenues.
So anyway my four years at uni were pretty good. I partied a little didn't study as hard as I could (hey it didn't do too much for me at school), but studied hard enough to get me credits and distinctions for the majority of subjects.

I again went in for all the extra curricular stuff - unicrew - a uni initiative to pretty much get students to volunteer to organise events for the students on campus eg bands, functions, and other social events. I quite liked this as I gained more confidence, (well you would too if you had to stand in front of a lecture theatre of 400 people and let them know what was going on at uni that week) and I wasn't too bad at it. I especially liked the fact that we got into gigs for free for helping set gear up, and doing the photography for the event.
I also became the Dance club vice president and enjoyed that a little, except the president had no idea how to organise things, and ran the club pretty badly without letting any of us on the committee know what was going on.

I held several casual and part time jobs particularly marketing products on campus, worked for the olympics and paraolympics, did summer jobs in the city, waitressed and worked as a sales assistant.

So anyway I made it through uni feeling like at least I had done a few worthwhile things.

I'm now a qualified teacher. I've only been teaching for a little while, but I am really not enjoying it. I'm supposedly at a really good school, but it's in a small town and though I've been here a while, still have no real friends. I'm a little lonely, but am coping quite well, I just need to keep myself occupied.
The teachers here are friendly, but I don't really click with any of them and I really feel like the head teacher is always looking over my shoulder and disapproving of my work.
Some of the kids here are great, but there are so many who are rude and obnoxious, and really don't want to learn.

Some days I dread going to school, some days I leave here with a splitting headache, and some days I leave here feeling like at least something went right, but never do I leave feeling entirely satisfied.

I don't think I'm cut out for this job and am now soul searching trying to find out what I shoul do, what I am actually interested in, and what I could make a career out of but I really don't just want to leave until I have some financial security.

I'm going to stick it out for at least another year, save save save, and then see if I am in a position to change my career choice. So generally my blogs are going to be about my soul searching, possible career options, painful days at work and decisions I actually make.
Till next time