July 26: Writing Prompt #207-Back to School

If you could take a break from your life and go back to school to master a subject, what would it be?

Too many things come to mind for this one, but if I could completely focus on school and not worry about the cost for awhile, I would go back to double major in Speech Pathology and Special Education for Preschool-12th grade.  I do enjoy the field of education, and I loved my years teaching English as a Second Language more than any other job, but I always wished I knew more about the speech and resource areas because often my students struggled with more than just English being their second language. Even today, I am drawn most to the children with special needs and take every opportunity possible to gather more training and education about how I can be of better service to them and work to accommodate them in our daycare programs. If I ever went back to teaching at the K-12 level, I would also like to get more training or complete certification as a reading specialist. I believe these 3 areas of education (teaching reading, speech pathology, and a resource specialist) would really compliment my TESL background and give me the tools I need to help these students with ALL their academic needs.  In addition, I love working in small groups or one on one with students better than teaching a lesson to an entire class all at once, so being a resource, speech, ESL, or reading teacher is definitely my niche.  If I could go back….I enjoy what I do now, but nothing so far has ever held as much purpose for me as teaching ESL and working with my Marshallese students (both adult and child), and I miss it terribly.  Maybe life will lead me back that direction some day, but until that time, I will do the best I can to serve the children and parents who come across my path knowing they are the ones who have chosen a profession in which they are willing to give up their lives for me and this beautiful country we live in, affording us our freedom of speech and religion.  I find my purpose today in serving these selfless souls and their children because I could not do what they do, and I am very grateful for their service.