A meteorologist, a teacher, and a mother walk into a bar…

Did that get your attention?

As a way to challenge myself to write more (and to have topics to actually write about!) I have decided to participate in #Blogtober14, which is a challenge to write a blog post every day in October, complete with prompts!

I’ve never done anything like this before, and have never participated in any of those “link up” blog challenges that are apparently a thing people do. The challenge is hosted by two blogs that are more “lifestyle” than anything I’ve attempted before, and there are a bunch of beauty/fashion/etc prompts – again, that’s an area I’ve never wandered into on this blog before, so I’m a little nervous!

I’m a day behind, since it’s October 2nd, but technically I blogged yesterday – just without the prompt!

Today’s prompt is… Dream job when you were little/ what is it now?

I can remember a lot of different jobs I thought I aspired to as a child. I had a few that I always said when asked, and there were probably a lot more random ones sprinkled in there than I can really recall. For example…

Meteorologist. I liked weather a lot as a kid. Especially the destructive weather and natural disaster type events, like earthquakes, volcanoes, and tornadoes. I may have been a bit of a strange child! The bookshelf in my bedroom is still filled with books about weather and famous natural disasters, like Pompeii. I can remember sitting on my floor, poring through the books, and when I was done, instantly re-reading them. I made it a habit to look at the weather charts and maps in the back of the newspaper every day, noting the extreme high and low temperatures across the globe and examining the rainfall for the previous day. I wish that I had the chance to take a course on meteorology in college, because weather still interests me a lot.

Veterinarian. I never really liked animals all that much, except for cats, since my family didn’t have any pets aside from a few goldfish with short lifespans. Saying that you wanted to be a veterinarian when you grew up was just a popular thing among my friends and girls in my elementary school, so I think I must have mentioned it a few times along the way!

Mother. It probably sounds funny to some, but this is still a “career” that I would really like to have at some point in my life. What is classified as “women’s work” is so incredibly undervalued in our society, so I like seeing motherhood as a job/career to have. But, I digress! I always enjoyed playing with and taking care of my dolls as a young child, and thought that being a mom would be awesome.

Teacher. Last, but certainly not least! From a young age, I can remember playing school with my friend Marissa. I was almost always the teacher (and she was the unruly student, haha) and I always enjoyed having that role. Ever since preschool, I idolized my teachers, especially in elementary school. They were the coolest people ever and I wanted to be them when I grew up. Maybe I want to be a preschool teacher since I thought my preschool teacher was so awesome!

– – – – –

Now, I’m not so sure. When I entered college, I felt pretty secure with the idea that I wanted to be a preschool teacher. In terms of teaching, that is still the age I’d like to teach and be responsible for. I love love love seeing how young children grasp knowledge and begin to understand the world around them, especially the social world they live in. I think they’re fascinating. But I feel like teaching is one of those jobs that I need to try out full-time to see if I can commit myself to it – and that’s part of what I will be doing next semester when I do my student teaching. Unfortunately, I’ll be in a kindergarten and second grade classroom instead of preschool, which can be a pretty different experience. I’ve had the opportunity to spend time in many types of classrooms in varying types of schools, and from that, I’ve learned that the pedagogy of the school and the teachers really matters to me. The school that I liked the most was actually the preschool that I went to, and then returned to volunteer in during the summer one year. The preschool focuses mainly on child-directed free play and low-key group activities, with different centers to choose from and time spent outside each day. Parents are also encouraged to come in as a classroom helper on a rotating schedule, so they’re heavily invested in the education of their children. It was such a supportive, calm, low-stress environment for me to be in as a volunteer, and I can only imagine how great it would be to work as a teacher there.

Anyways, I think I’d still really like to be a preschool teacher, but at the same time, I’ve been exploring careers in the non-profit world through internships during the summer and online research. I’ve interned at The Reading Connection, a non-profit that provides underprivileged children in the DC area with access to books and reading programs, and interned with The Dublin Well Woman Centre this summer in Ireland, a not-for-profit group of reproductive healthcare clinics that also provide free crisis pregnancy counseling. I’ve really enjoyed the work that I’ve done with these organizations to work towards a cause and help make a difference in the world. This work is challenging, but so important and rewarding at the end of the day. I don’t think I would mind having a career in a non-profit that has a great community impact someday.

Also, this semester, I’m doing a (very part-time) internship with The Horn Book, a company that creates publications (a magazine and a guide) about children’s and young adult books. Publishers send them new books (unfinished copies and brand-spankin-new hardcovers) every day, with the hopes that the editors at The Horn Book will choose those books to be sent out to their large group of reviewers. The magazine is published every two months and the guide (which covers about 2000 books) is published bi-annually. These reviews are collected, edited, organized, and some books even get a starred review in the magazine, which is a pretty high honor to get. As an intern, I unpack the boxes full of exciting books, send out books to reviewers, shelve books, and now I’m starting to read some books that are up for starred reviews. As the semester goes on, I might be able to write a few blog posts, too! I’m enjoying this work so much more than I expected I would, and I feel pretty fulfilled at the end of the day, which is a nice feeling to have. This experience, and some general research into the field, has made me begin to think that I would be interested in a career in children’s literature or children’s publishing. In what form, I have no idea, but it’s exciting to have a new option open that I never thought of before.

So, long story short, I like working with kids, I like working in non-profits, and I like working with books. If anyone finds a perfect job opening that combines all of these, let me know!!!