The Beginning of a New Dawn

This is the first blog post that I have ever compiled, so if it is not all that satisfactory, then that's your own opinion and you are allowed it. We will begin with the reason why I am starting a blog in the first place. The other day my wife and I were discussing jobs and what we want to do when we "grow up". This came up because I have started to feel for the past three years that I am not meant to just do security and substitute teach for my entire life; I am meant for something more.

Looking back just a little further, I recently graduated from Western Governors University (WGU) with my Bachelor's Degree in Educational Studies, and what that means is that I can get into educational field as long as it does not require a teaching license. So, this amounts to a very limited amount of things that I could do in the lines of education. I did not get licensure because of my own choosing, and much contemplation. I went through all the classes necessary to become a teacher and gained competency in all of them, but when it came to demonstration teaching I admit, I failed. It was not a great realization at the time, in fact I cried the day I had to admit it to my host teacher. That was the hardest part of it all; admitting it to her because here I was in front of an amazing teacher, she allowed me to work with her in her class, and I could not help feeling that I let her down. But, I could not go on thinking that I could complete the work, and let the students down. My lesson plans were not always that great, I could not always capture the attention of the students, and I would fumble around the lesson when I would get frustrated when the students were just not getting it. Sure, I could have probably continued and completed the internship, but could I continue thinking that I let some of the students down and that some of them would fail because of my flaws? The answer here quickly became no. After much consideration, I stepped down and asked the teacher to try and fix the students that I had let down.

All was not lost that day though; there was a light at the end of the tunnel! WGU was able to give me a sort of second chance by having me complete a series of research projects where I had to find an issue that would impact the future of education and write about the various aspects of it. The task required much reading, a lot of trips to the library, and many days on the computer, but in the end I created a 30 page long thesis about the future of environmental education backed up with 50 different annotated resources. Honestly, looking back at the paper I feel I was meant to fail at the demonstration teaching in order to find what I really wanted to see out of the education field. While researching I found stories of the best schools, the worst schools, the makings of great teachers, and the worst of the worst teachers and found that I did not want to see our future generations to rely on this hodge podge of education. I want(ed) every single child to get the best education that is possible out there. To never have to wonder if they would have a "good" class or "bad" class. To put an end to the days where we group our students as an "A" student or "F" student. The greatest line I heard while taking my classes and throughout my research was, "there is no dumb kid", and I whole-heartedly believe this and that every person in the field should see this as well. In an episode of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey (quite possibly one of my favorite shows) there was an excellent line when Neil deGrasse Tyson discusses the history behind Joseph Von Fraunhofer when they say, "how many do we leave behind in the rubble?" and I feel that same way when we push a student to become something they are not or when we classify them into a certain group.

So, back to the discussion with my wife and what I wanted to be when I "grow up". I started to ask myself and her, "what did I like doing when I was young? What did I excel at back in my high school days and my free time back then?" I have always liked writing and in my later education I enjoyed finding more out about the field of education and how we can make it better. That's when my wife stated, "why don't you just do what you did for your project and start a blog about aspects in education that you are passionate about?" That is when I replied, "this is why we're married!" Because she just had shown me something that I could not see 5 millimeters in front of me. I titled this first article "The Beginning of a New Dawn" because for those that really know me have heard of the book idea that I have had for years titled "The End of a New Dawn", but I think the problem has been that I have had no beginning. This blog is the beginning of that journey; granted that the book idea is suppose to be a work of science fiction and nothing related to this (maybe), but every journey has to have a beginning no matter how long it has been since the first steps were taken. Expect to hear highly researched ideas that might not be agreeable at times, but my hope is to leave no mind behind in the rubble.

Thanks to those that read this first blog, and I hope you enjoy the others to come.