How I became a teacher?
Here's opening one's soul:
I remember one day discussing with my dad the fact that I wanted to study Education at university. He encouraged me to read about education and keep it as a hobby, but counselled me to do something which would earn me a more decent wage. I suppose this is not unusual, especially where I was born, where pursuit of a living wage often meant emigrating to the West or taking a post in the Gulf states.
The idea kept simmering in my mind, even though I completed an engineering degree and worked for a major telecommunications company. In the year 2000, I requested permission to apply for a training position in Europe. It turned out to be an inopportune time for my department to let go of any of its members. A few months later, we were closed down by the parent company and I found work as a trainer, contracting to a large US company.
The IT slump hit hard towards the end of 2001 and, despite signing with another leading software training provider, the contracts were few and far between. I decided to turn the crisis into an opportunity and took some time to read "finding your mission in life", a section in Dick Bolles' classic "What Color is Your Parachute?". Everything I read and all the profiling tools in the book pointed me to teaching. I decided to apply to local universities for the 2003 intake, but was dissuaded from this by some members of my family.
In November 2002, I was offered two jobs which I rejected, having realised that I needed to go ahead with my decision to undertake teacher training. It was too late to go through the regular chanels but the Australian Catholic University had a process for late applications. It was a great surprise when they called me with an offer. I later learned that my chosen methods, Maths and IT, helped me as both were -and remain- in great shortage.
Since then, many things happened that confirmed my decision. I was called by a technical college to teach evenings while I completed my teaching diploma in the day. A school that had hosted me for a teaching round offered me a full-time position beginning January of 2004. Everytime a decision had to be made, something would open up and appear to be the natural option. Most importantly, I had my wife's full support throughout the journey.
I was raised to believe that when the circumstances of life all point in one direction and things turn out for the better, Divine Providence is at work.
Elias.
I remember one day discussing with my dad the fact that I wanted to study Education at university. He encouraged me to read about education and keep it as a hobby, but counselled me to do something which would earn me a more decent wage. I suppose this is not unusual, especially where I was born, where pursuit of a living wage often meant emigrating to the West or taking a post in the Gulf states.
The idea kept simmering in my mind, even though I completed an engineering degree and worked for a major telecommunications company. In the year 2000, I requested permission to apply for a training position in Europe. It turned out to be an inopportune time for my department to let go of any of its members. A few months later, we were closed down by the parent company and I found work as a trainer, contracting to a large US company.
The IT slump hit hard towards the end of 2001 and, despite signing with another leading software training provider, the contracts were few and far between. I decided to turn the crisis into an opportunity and took some time to read "finding your mission in life", a section in Dick Bolles' classic "What Color is Your Parachute?". Everything I read and all the profiling tools in the book pointed me to teaching. I decided to apply to local universities for the 2003 intake, but was dissuaded from this by some members of my family.
In November 2002, I was offered two jobs which I rejected, having realised that I needed to go ahead with my decision to undertake teacher training. It was too late to go through the regular chanels but the Australian Catholic University had a process for late applications. It was a great surprise when they called me with an offer. I later learned that my chosen methods, Maths and IT, helped me as both were -and remain- in great shortage.
Since then, many things happened that confirmed my decision. I was called by a technical college to teach evenings while I completed my teaching diploma in the day. A school that had hosted me for a teaching round offered me a full-time position beginning January of 2004. Everytime a decision had to be made, something would open up and appear to be the natural option. Most importantly, I had my wife's full support throughout the journey.
I was raised to believe that when the circumstances of life all point in one direction and things turn out for the better, Divine Providence is at work.
Elias.
Comments
Like you, I was dissuaded away from my heart's desire in the pursuit of better money, so I worked in Industry for 22 years!
Through tutoring students over the past few years, my passion for teaching reignited, and when I found I could manage to find time to do a Grad Dip Ed last year, I jumped at the chance! So in my 1st year of teaching, I can truly say that I am doing what I love...the school, the staff, the students, the joy of learning...and the joy of education ...all true to my heart...so my advice to my children has always been ...do what is true to your heart...follow your passion, and life will flow.
God Bless.