Can our dreams of becoming teachers be realized in this economy?

Have you ever wanted something so badly, but it just always seems to be out of your reach?  I have and still do!  Since I was a child I have dreamed of becoming a teacher.  I didn't go to college after High School like many of my friends did, instead I started a family that I stayed home and raised.  


In 1998 I went back into the workforce as an Office Manager for a computer store, where I dealt with the various school districts around us on a daily basis as I quoted them computer labs and other peripherals.  I continued to work at the computer store for about five years before I decided that I would never be able to grow at my current place of employment and I wanted something more out of my life.  It was then that I thought about what was really important to me along with my hopes and dreams.  I thought about my children and their education.  It was then that I took my first step and decided to go back to school to get my degree in education.


I began that journey in the Summer of 2003 and I worked very hard to keep my grades up while taking care of m family.  I even started volunteering at my children's school with the parent teacher organization, which I later became treasurer and president of.  I also became a Girl Scout leader for both of my daughters Girl Scout troop.  It was a very rough ride, but in December 2007 I graduated with my BS in Early Childhood Education (P-4). 


It was at that time that I began my job search for a lifelong career as an elementary teacher.  I began by substituting for all of the local school districts.  After a year of doing that with no nibbles I took a job offer at a local NBC affiliate in their Accounting department to help my family meet their financial needs.  I continued submitting applications and resumes for job positions that became open throughout the various school districts, but never received a phone call to interview for any of them.  


In February 2010, my position at the television station was eliminated and the very next day I received my divorce papers in the mail.  It was a very hard month, but my children and I decided to move from the only home they had ever known in Arkansas over 2400 miles away to Oregon for a fresh start.  We have been settling in here for almost a year now and I have gone back to school to get my Masters in Education Media Design & Technology, which I will graduate with in July of this year.  I am still submitting applications and resumes to various school districts hoping and praying for a teaching position, but have yet to see a response or even a glimmer of hope in that direction.


In our current economy I am not holding my breath for an education job due to all of the budget cuts, employees who aren't ready to retire, and being in that over 40 age bracket that sometimes isn't considered with all the younger graduating hopefuls.  Everything has become so political and if you don't know the "right person" then your chances are even lower.  I am not so much set to teach elementary school anymore as I once was, but then again breaking into secondary education or even online education for that matter these days is just as difficult.  Especially if you have absolutely no teaching experience besides just your internship and substituting.  So how does someone get their dream job these days with so much against them???  That is a very good question and one I would love to be able to answer.  I just keep trying and pray that one day I will be able to fulfill my dream of teaching.


I have been told by my friends, colleagues, and other educators that with all my technology background and willingness to try new things that there should be multiple opportunities available to me.  Being out of work for a year now I have looked at taking a position just about anywhere and everywhere.  However, it seems that I am over qualified for many of the accounting or office positions I have taken in the past or that they are afraid to hire me in fear that I will leave if a teaching position should become available.  The economy has been hit hard making it difficult for us all.  This has been a very hard road to walk down, but I am determined to follow it through until I finally do reach my goal and dream of teaching somewhere in what was once a great land of opportunity for us all. 

Cycle 1 complete

Friday finished up my first cycle of research for my Action Research project.  Now I am trying to sort through all of the data to measure whether the project was a success or failure.  Then hopefully I can tell what changes I need to make, so that I can begin cycle 2.  I know that there are things that will have to be done differently and perhaps even a whole different approach will be needed.  


I've had suggestions from participants that I should choose one person to be in the leadership role on a weekly basis versus a daily basis to get them more acclimated with the role, have them take a more in-depth look at the various primary and secondary professions before choosing, making sure that everyone has a microphone to be able to communicate verbally in the Ventrilo server, and having daily required discussions on the discussion boards.


I see many of these as very valid points.  It was hard to communicate with some participants when they only typed in the chat box versus verbally in the Ventrilo server.  It was also rough during the last couple of weeks of the project with one person in the group having to be the only healer on every quest/mission because the professions were not discussed and chosen before their creation by all participants. The discussion board suggestion is a hard one because I would have loved for them to communicate more in there, but I just couldn't seem to keep them interested or posting at all for that matter.  I don't know if requiring them to do it on a daily basis before playing or after playing would have helped or done more harm.  That is going to be a hard call.


Many if the participants would like to see the second cycle carried over into one of the other Guild Wars campaigns like Factions or Nightfalls instead of repeating Prophecies whole storyline again.  I can see the point of that as well because once you have completed it once you generally don't want to do it again.  There are many factors to consider and I will be deep in thought on what should be done to make this next cycle better.  If any of my critical friends or subscribers have any input or suggestions please let me know.