School

So the other day I get this random missed call that I didn't recognize. Listening to the voicemail I realized that it was my academic adviser at Western calling to see if I still had my book from my human sexuality class for her son. I still did so I was able to sell it to her, but it was really cool because I had been wanting to talk to her about my major and other stuff and I didn't even have to set up an appointment, she talked right on the phone to me!

I was telling her how I was wondering if Western had an ESL program (which they don't : ( and was wanting to just know more about the Child and Family Development program (which I'm in now) and more about the Early Childhood Program (which I'm thinking about switching to). She was able to tell me a lot just over the phone, even though I do need to still sit down and talk about it with someone probably. First, Western does not offer an ESL program; she told me some of the colleges that do in MI, but they were all private colleges that I don't really think I would ever want to attend, so I crossed that off for the time being. I really just think I'm supposed to stay at Western and finish out schooling here for right now.

So that leaves staying with the Child and Family Development major or switching back to teaching. Chris was able to tell me that the CFD program is very broad...much more broad than teaching would be. If all I ever wanted to do was work at a daycare this would probably work, but if I ever wanted to teach at a preschool or something higher, I would definitely have to get certified. I could probably get by with this degree and get a job teaching English overseas, but if I ever come back and want to work in the US teaching I would have to go back to school. Plus staying in this major would mean I wouldn't get much teaching experience which would probably really help and prepare me for teaching overseas. I think teaching overseas is what I want to do someday so it only sees sensible to stick with teaching here in the US.

When I was at Spring Arbor I was in the elementary education program. I was in it from my very first semester there to when I quit 2 1/2 years later. I got a good taste for it and enjoyed it a lot...I got a lot of classroom time with all the observation hours that you have to put in. I don't know though...I liked the program okay, I was doing well, I just wasn't as passionate or excited about reaching the end as I thought I should be. I mean I liked being in the classroom and working with the children, but I couldn't see myself running an entire classroom of 3rd graders. I definitely wasn't as passionate as some of the other students to just graduate, have their own classroom and start teaching somewhere.

So when I had my breakdown and quit at j-term last year I really had an identity crisis. I didn't know who I was anymore. I wasn't a student any longer and I really thought I never would be able to go back, so that crossed out becoming a teacher. I remember Richard, my step dad, asking me what I was going to do now that I was living back at home...I couldn't just sit around all day at home and stay depressed, he wanted me out and doing something more with my life. So I considered volunteering, trying to get a job somewhere and I distinctly remember saying something like "I wish I could get a job at a daycare, I think I would really like that." And I did a few weeks later.
I don't really remember if I became passionate about preschoolers before working at the daycare, maybe I did a little bit because of Japan, but once I started working and going to Threshold and just really moving on and trying not to stay depressed I really felt like I could go back to school again. But this time going for teaching kind of freaked me out. I didn't think I was passionate enough, I didn't think I could actually be good enough to teach elementary students or even if I could student teach. So, I decided to go for the Child and Family Development major.
The classes sounded interesting to me, which was a big deal, because before anything about school kind of freaked me out about going back. I didn't really know much about the major but kind of just picked in on a whim because "it sounded good." But ever since talking to Sara H. (who is in South Korea right now) I've really been thinking if this major will be enough. It wouldn't certify me to teach, which would probably really help me get a job overseas if that's really what I'm called to do. So I've been going back through and deciding if I should change my major back to education.

So talking to Chris I asked her about the Early Childhood Education program. It's much the same as the Elementary Education program, but with this major you have to do two student teaching semesters. Immediately my flesh wanted to say, "Forget that!" But the more I think about it and if teaching overseas is what I am called to do, then I probably need to be able to student teach here in the US, at least it would probably help. And why not get stretched even further, get even more classroom experience and leadership under my belt and do the Early Childhood program when I think it is the smaller children that I am more passionate about. The Early Childhood Program would get me certified to teach preschool through 8th grade...if I just did the Elementary Education I wouldn't be able to teach preschool after graduation.

So I think I'm going to switch my major to Early Childhood. I've been praying about it, haven't heard, "This is what you should do" or anything like that just the "seems good" in the Holy Spirit so I think I'm going to go for it. I still need to talk to family and friends and Pastor Erica about it. I haven't talked to anyone else really besides Pastor Erica that I've been thinking about changing it, so I need to hear what others who know me think. So yeah...if I did change it that would mean around 2 more years at Western, I think. We'll see...