Still wanna be... educators part 2

If you still want to become a teacher... even after seeing my last post than I think you should go for it. What I would really like is to know teachers such as the one from the film called Freedom Writers. The whole idea is to have a purpose and to consider it more than a job. I don't believe that you can totally separate your life from your career, especially if you are a teacher. This is certainly harder than for instance being an accountant (no offence to the world of accountants).

When you are working with children, you need patience... lots of it, and we haven't even talked about such upsides as the constantly changing educational system or the parents who think that education goes on in the school, and the school only, so they don't have to contribute at all. The solution could be to 'trick' the system, just like in the film, and create your own methods of teaching. Try to raise the interest of the kids, even if that means you have to use toy cars to illustrate maths, or you have to read essays about World of Warcraft in order to analyse the writing skills of the children. This is why you should be prepared for anything and everything when you go into a classroom. Good luck for all of you!

“We don't need no educators”

Will I be... a teacher?

Image from Fanpop

Have you ever thought about being a teacher? A lot of my acquaintances have gone down that road. My parents always said, that's what I should do too, but this was not enough to convince me. When I was younger I had no clue what I want to be. My friends on the other hand, were always on the edge. They were sure that they would become doctors, nurses, fire-fighters and teachers of course (it depended on the day of the week). Even though I had no plans (besides changing the world of course, everybody goes through that phase) the one thing that I knew was that I like literature, grammar, and I usually talk a lot, so I decided to study English.

Most of the people think that the only job you can aspire for with such a degree is a teaching position. I won't lie to you, the thought eventually crossed my mind, but I'm not cut out for it. I know most of you think teaching is easy, teachers have a lot of vacation and good pay checks, but you are wrong. I've made an infographic about teaching, since this type of visualised data is so popular today:) I hope it is readable, please don't judge, it's my first one and it's a little old school.

As good as it gets

Hello again!

First of all, I realised that last time I forgot to answer the question regarding the content of this blog. The answer is: I don't know yet. As the famous quote goes “I'm an idealist. I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way.” So basically, we will see where we end up.

 

Take a stand

As I promised, this time I will give you some tips on how to get a better job. It is obvious that the process is hard, but from my experience, it is worth it. There are very few things that are worse than being obligated to do something that you hate. Once you have realised that you need to take a stand and change something, you have to figure out how. The first step is to find a new job. Easy to say, extremely hard to do. At the beginning of my 'fishing' I decided that I will not settle for what I can find, instead I will try to look for something that is at least remotely related to my English degree.

 

Change of attitude

Of course, this worked for like two weeks, after which I was starting to panic and my determination was slowly fading away like a distant memory. I was back where I started, in the 'this could be better than nothing' box, going to interviews for lousy jobs, because I needed to pay the bills. The epiphany came when I had not been accepted for the positions, that I could have handled without any difficulties. I couldn't believe that all the years of learning and struggling were for nothing, and I decided again (this time for real) that I will find a suitable job. The fact is, that the only thing that I had to change was my approach. I was looking in the wrong places. So here's the deal… you need to really dedicate yourself to the search and find the best opportunities. How? The 'miracle' of our age… the internet. The sites where you can find job posts are more and more advanced, so you not only have the possibility to choose from a very big list of vacancies, but you can also learn about a lot of things, like how to behave at an interview, or what to write in your resume. I'm not saying that this is all that it takes, you need a bit of luck as well. However, I can assure you, that your attitude is one of the most important factors. 

Image taken from Glass Half Full

I don't even remember how many interviews have I gone to, when I applied for a job that I had known nothing about. I saw that I could fulfil the requirements, although they were kind of vague (good communication skills, being able to work in a team etc., you know the usual stuff), I still went to the interview.

At first I thought nothing special of it, but when I saw that the employees were saying jokes and laughing, I said to myself that this must be it. And it was :) 

 

Be who you are

So you need to believe that you have a real chance to be hired and act accordingly. Don't panic when they ask questions, just try to give the answers you think are the best. This is what I did, and it worked. I couldn't believe that they hired me, and ever since then, I am trying to do my best. But most importantly, I don't wake up every morning, thinking that I don't want to go to work (only some days:)). I'm not claiming that my job is perfect, I don't believe there is such thing... but you have to strive to find the one that is at least 'as good as it gets'! Of course, this opinion will also change in time for many people, so let's stick to the 'as good as it gets for right now'.

Better than nothing… is it really?

Hi guys! If you are reading this, it means you have somehow found my blog. I'm relatively “new” in the world of blogging, so I'm not sure of the rules, if there are any :) You are probably wondering about the content of it. Well, the reason why I started writing was curiosity. Would it be fun? Would it matter? Would it help? I really hope that my posts will be useful in one way or the other.

How many times have you said: 'oh, it's still better than nothing'? I, for one, have said it too many times already. I'm an average person… no special skills, or hidden talents. I can't fly, or read others' thoughts, I don't own a special iron suit and when I'm angry, I don't look like Shrek on steroids (don't get me wrong, I like the Hulk).
Nonetheless, I am getting tired of making my choices based upon those three words. There are many things that should be at least 'good' in someone's life, or even the best. During the years when I was in college, I worked in a store, which I hated, but it was 'better than nothing', I got a salary that was again 'better than nothing', and the list goes on and on. After a while you start to wonder if you should have chosen the nothing part. People tend to make excuses for themselves, I will find something better as soon as I finish college, I will quit, as soon as I won't need a steady job and so on. Don't go down that road… believe me it is a straight way to feeling as if you were 50, when you're actually 25. 

Image from Wisdom Heart

So the big question is, what to do about it? If you think you deserve something that is way better, if you want to have fun in the weekends instead of working overtime, here's the solution: QUIT! But not before you have thought about things for a while. As I have mentioned before I am not the most powerful person in the planet, but I am stubborn enough to have things my way, if I really make up my mind about something. Therefore one day, after I have finally decided to take matters into my own hands, while I was working a busy shift, I handed in my resignation letter. Soon after, I realised that it would have been ideal to look for another job first, but let's face it, nothing is ideal these days. Exactly 2 months 28 days and a lot of sleepless nights later I have found my next job, which is more than I could have hoped for. If you are interested in how I did it, keep on reading my posts. Till next time!