I am now a TEACHER. Say whaat?? Yes it is true. For all you non-believers out there, I actually AM using my English degree for something. I am the 8th-grade English teacher at Bais Yaakov(or Beth Jacob) School. It is a Hasadic Jewish middle school/high school school for girls. It has definitely been a WHIRLWIND.
For those of you who don't know, teaching is HARD. I for some reason was under the assumption that this job would be easy because of the school. I thought that the girls would all be hard-working good listeners. HA. Just because it is a religious school with very strict rules does NOT mean that the students care about learning and give you the time of day. I definitely had a learning curve with trying to figure out how to run my classroom and get the girls to trust me and listen to me. The first week was extremely trying for me, but I believe I am coming into my own. And I am DEFINITELY learning a ton about the Jewish community, which was before very unknown to me.
It has been a really interesting experience. I feel like I learn something new everyday, whether it be about their culture or about the best way to run a classroom. I can see now why all the girls I knew who taught in Utah were so stressed out all the the time. It is definitely trying! I have to say though that I am liking this job a lot more than my last job. My last job was a lot of sitting at the computer in silence trying to figure out the foreign language that is html. Now I get to do what I love to do: be surrounded by and talk to people all day! I love leading a classroom and teaching about books, grammar, vocabulary, and all things English!
I actually get to do some editing as well! I am the editor for the school "student journal". I am in charge of editing the submissions, which are short, non-fiction stories sent in by the high school students. It has been fun to continue editing and use it in a different light.
I will give more info on my job as time goes on. For now I am just trying to keep up and understand what everyone is talking about around me!
Also, for all you BYU-goers, be looking out for this year's version of the BYU student journal Americana! I will be PUBLISHED with my paper from my senior seminar class!! Although it is just a small student publication, it is cool that I can say that I will be published! Woohoo!
Now I can add on more thing my degree has given me: editor, teacher, AND writer! Bring it, world.
