I’m feeling a need to prepare for writing application essays and explaining this nearly sudden change in my plans, so this gets to be my brainstorming.
When I was in my teacher prep program during my undergrad days, I had to write a philosophy of teaching for one of my early classes. Mine centered around informal learning, guided discovery, and facilitation. It wasn’t terribly surprising to any of my professors as it kept showing up in class portfolios and such. I was the oddball. I was the one all the teachers thought was wasting her talents by looking toward a career in museum education instead of taking on a classroom.
The simple fact of the matter was, by the time I got to my teacher prep program, I had taught in a museum and a planetarium, and had absolutely fallen in love with it. I loved being able to physically build show and exhibit components, and then introduce people to them. During my teacher prep days, I worked in a museum and an aquarium. I loved doing all sorts of research and developing workshops and tours.
When I was accepted into a museum science graduate program, I thought my heart would just burst. I worked in a training museum with a planetarium attached. I was the only student in the program to have her own office where I sat amidst old dusty astronomy books, video tapes, and old show files to create everything from a show intro to workshops to summer camp activities to teacher guides.
To me, it was the best job in the world!
Sadly, it was a road too short. I was considered “overqualified” before I went to grad school, and it didn’t get any better after that. I interviewed for one Education Director position, but was ultimately rejected because I had no background or interest in fundraising. (At some point, someone is going to have to explain to me what education has to do with fundraising.)
What I most loved about my career as a museum educator is written on a sticky note over my desk to remind me of what makes me happy. Some of it is finding its way slowly into this website. I am happy when I’m researching, when I’m developing curriculum. I can live with low to moderate teaching duties so long as I can get in some training time, too.
My current job is actually perfect in that second respect. I supervise. I support. I teach occasionally. I train fellow teachers. If I do get into grad school on the other side of the country, I want to see if I can just transfer my job (not necessarily at my current level).
It’s missing that whole research and devleopment aspect, though. I really do miss it. This is why my path is taking me into instructional design. Well, that and the fact every job that catches my attention is related to instructional design. I think this is a good match, me creating multimedia learning experiences. It address so many of my needs at once- to create, to research, to develop, to teach!
