Tell us about a time when you
were left on your own, to fend for yourself in an overwhelming situation — on
the job, at home, at school. What was the outcome?
I was perfectly content in my librarian job at my small town, local
library until one day my supervisor asked me to fill in as an instructor at the
before and after school program for elementary school students on the
island. I was very unsure about doing
this, but knew I really didn’t have a choice as I was told it was very likely
that my cushy librarian job was going to go away soon (replaced by community
volunteers), and the only other open position my boss could offer me at the
time was in the child, youth, and school services department, which I knew
literally nothing about.
So, while still working at the library, I used the hours the library was
closed to attend training required before I could even enter the
classroom. I didn’t mind this because I
always liked school and excelled at it. So,
I don’t remember the training hours begin particularly overwhelming or challenging,
although it was a lot of new information for me. The next part was to complete my observation
hours, in the classroom. My first day watching the controlled chaos that was
the program that day definitely overwhelmed me.
Wow!! I left thinking I could never do this job. The children were loud, rowdy, and did not
listen to the two teachers helping out at the time. After my observation hours were done, that’s
when I was thrown in to “sink or swim” as the new lead. It was quite a learning experience!!
After some time and more training in my new career field, I realized
that much of the program I observed in those early, overwhelming days (and even
my own overwhelming struggles with the children and program I had been placed
in charge of) were due to the fact that the children had not had a steady
instructor in their class for quite some time, and so there had been no
consistency, rules, planned activities based on the children’s interests, a
schedule to follow, or organization of the program because each week might
bring a different caregiver, all of whom were just trying to keep the children
safe and get through the day until it was time for them to go back to their regular
schedule and classroom. Now, it’s not that I didn’t have any experience, but it
was limited at that time. I had teaching
experience, but it was at the college level and in job training programs where
the age range was 16-20 years old. I had
children of my own by then as well, but they were preschool and kindergarten
age when I started as the school age lead instructor. Working with a diverse group of 5-12 year
olds who are all at such different developmental levels was going to prove to
be a huge challenge, but the outcome of my sink or swim experience in the
school age room?? Well, it proved to be a challenge I was proud to meet and
exceed in many ways. I ended up loving
being a school age instructor and within less than 2 years had moved up in the
organization to become a teacher trainer to other caregivers, and I’m still in
the same organization in yet another unique position today, a position which
gives me a chance to not only help in the classrooms, but also manage and train
employees.
The funny thing is that I’ve come to realize that teaching, in general,
whether you are a college level instructor, an elementary school teacher, or a
day care provider, they are all “sink or swim” situations. Sure, you may have a
bunch of training or even a college degree and teaching certifications before
you take over your own classroom as a lead, but until you’ve had to manage an
entire class of students for several hours, you can’t know for sure whether or
not you will make it across the pond, and even what age group might be the best
fit for you. I was put into the same
type of sink or swim situation when I taught my first English course to a group
of Marshallese college students, and I didn’t last 5 minutes before I left the
room in tears, so my next teaching sink or swim experience was a bit more
successful, thank goodness!! I never thought I would want to teach college
English, but was thrown in the waters and ended up LOVING it, just as I really
never would have thought I’d lead a before and after school program for
elementary school students, but again, I came to love my students as my own
children and enjoyed working with them to plan engaging and child-centered
activities for us to connect with each other and learn from in so many
ways. Those “sink or swim” moments were
the best career moves I ever made. Thank you to those trainers and bosses who
knew better than me and taught me how to swim in the waters of childcare and education
by simply “tossing me in.”
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