Day 7

What is your dream job, and why?

Since I can remember, I've always wanted to be a teacher. I was working at a day care [and not liking it] when somebody told me I should apply to be a teacher's aide. Perfect. I ended up having an interview for a special needs room and got hired. I was really nervous because I'd never had a job like that before.  A couple of months into the job, I knew what I was meant to be: a special needs teacher.

Over 4 1/2 years, I worked in three different classrooms, two different schools. When I transferred schools, I had an interview with 4 teachers at one time and they all wanted me! It was a job I loved going to. And I was good at it. Teaching special needs kids is way more than academics- you teach them everything from social skills to hygiene to playing and everything in between.

Every year it was hard to say bye to the students leaving [most classes around here have two or three grades so you have the students for more than one year and get attached] They love you as much as you love them. I think about past students alllll the time. I miss working. I miss the people I worked with. It makes me so happy when I see my old kids out in town, sometimes they say hi, sometimes they just stare. I learned a lot about being a Mom from that job.

It was also hard being an aide though. We did everything [and more, like wiping butts] that the teacher did. She did the paperwork, we did the teaching and loving. Mmmhmm, we did the teaching- without degrees! And we got paid close to NOTHING. Its definitely a job you need to be passionate about. We were so much more connected to the students. I saw this in all three classes I worked in and the others around me. Its sad. It showed me exactly what kind of teacher I don't want to be.

One day [soon] I'll get my motivation and go back to school. Being a teacher is the best job for a Mom. You have all the same days off as your kids. There are lots of days off- another awesome plus to teaching. If for whatever reason I don't become a teacher, I definitely want to do something with special needs kids- its where my heart is, careerwise.