What I'm Doing Now - Career Addition

My entire post-secondary education was geared toward preparing myself for work in the public sector. However, considering funding cuts, hiring freezes, and the like at the federal, state, and local levels of government, I have resigned myself to the fact that I am going to have to do something different for awhile. Right now, I am trying to figure out what that is.

While I was in graduate school, I took several education credits as electives. As it stands, I need one online class, and student teaching (one semester, unpaid) or an internship (a full academic year, paid), to finish my alma mater's teacher certification program.* Because I am not certain that education would be a suitable career path for me, I became a substitute teacher so that I can get paid while I find the answer to that question.

While some friends view my notoriously opinionated and loud personality as an impediment to the teaching profession, others view it as a symptom of my passion for learning. I love to learn, but I love to share what I've learned, as well. I have had many wonderful, educational discussions with friends in which we each taught and learned. I think that less intellectual friends find my occasional didacticism obnoxious, and I am absolutely certain that sharing knowledge with teenagers is different than sharing knowledge with college educated, intellectual adults. However, for the moment, I have a direction. If it doesn't work, I'll have to stick my toes into a different pond.


*While public education has been hit hard along with other public sector fields, school districts in large cities are still hiring hundreds of teachers every year.