Resume Building

Now that I'm taking 5 years in college, I can put off worrying about my resume for a little bit longer. It's a bit of a relief knowing I'm going into a field where summer internships aren't expected, if not demanded. That's not to say that you shouldn't do something with your summers though.

So I'm looking at my options. Summer study abroad programs are still available and I'm considering a couple of them. Or I could stay in Columbia and take summer courses and possibly work and help out with a couple of programs I know of. Or I could go back to Indiana and work at a tutoring place or volunteer with the high school while taking online summer courses. Or I can do what I was going to do last summer and do the Wilderness Leadership stuff. I have a couple of summers left, so I'm not terribly worried about how exactly I'll build my resume with those. I think any of those options offer solid resume building.

Next semester, I think I will be working at the place I currently volunteer at. A couple of the staff members have singled me out and told me that they want me to work there. I am constantly told how much my time is appreciated. The head of the organization knows my name and none of the names of other volunteers. I'm thinking it's a great opportunity to make a little money and a great place to get references.

I'm also getting a Service Learning certificate and possibly a Multicultural Certificate and a Japanese minor and a Journalism minor and an English minor. Sometimes I worry that all this will seem like I'm unfocused, but they all work so well together, especially with what I hope to do with my life. So that builds up the resume too. The GPA is decent, it's improving as we go on, especially now that I'm not taking Japanese language classes, and I think I have a good chance to make myself competitive in that manner.

So why, when I do all this, have all this planned, do people still tell me I need to build up my resume? It's solid. I'm good. I don't want a crap ton of fluff. I like what I have. I don't want to join your honors society and take 2 credit hour seminars on things that will be of no use to me just so I can say I was specially selected. I don't want to join your pre-teachers union just so I can act like I understand how they interact with school systems before I see it for myself. I'll tell you right now that 90% of kids who put that on their resume didn't do squat while they were in the society.

I just feel like I'm back in high school and everyone is worried about taking that prep course so they get above a 2100 on the SAT or joining this club and being an officer so they can get into a good college. Just stop it! Do what you want for a change. I can hear the protests - but I need to do this so I can do what I want later. No, you don't. You'll get there if you want it enough. Stop it. I know my audience well enough to know that we've been afforded plenty of opportunities to get there and no matter how much we mess it up, getting where we want is still within our reach. Even if I don't work with the school district in advance, I'll find a job. And I'll get where I want eventually. It'll happen. You'll get there. So just enjoy your life for a change. Stop worrying about your resume and do something that you might not even put on your resume. You'll thank me later.

Don't Be Afraid

When I was a photojournalism major, I was afraid of what the future held. I didn't like the thought of competing to take photos of what I wanted. I just wanted to be able to take photos of sports. I didn't want to fight against 10 others to have my photos published. I didn't want to be another name that no one knows, publishing photo after photo for 20 bucks a pop. I feared the competition. I feared that I would not have a job. I feared I would be stuck in a dead-end position until I got married and became a housewife. I feared I would then take up a position at a local housewifey magazine produced by a kept wife in the gated community in whatever suburb my husband and I chose to live. I was afraid.

I am not afraid to teach. I am not afraid of the stiff competition it will take to get into the district I want, into the exact position I want. I am not afraid because I know I have the tools and the drive and the talent and that cannot be taken away from me like my will to be a photographer. They've already tried. My professors have told horror stories about having staplers thrown at their heads and students simply walking out of class and I have seen teachers blow up at their students and lose their cool and lost their jobs and I am not afraid of that happening to me. Because I am above all that. I have the drive and the passion to work with my students and to catch that stapler and set it quietly on my desk and continue with my lesson. I have begun to experience this and I have worked through it and found other means to cope and express my point. I have become frustrated and students have seen that and taken advantage of it, but I regained control. I have the power and the ability to do what I want and I am not afraid to do it. I am not afraid of failing. I know my first year won't be great. But the next year I will be better. And I'll fall into a grove that works, making adjustments for each student, each class, each year.

Students in my classroom will be the students in that video. Students will want to express themselves and I can help them accomplish that. When I watched that video, the first time I listened to their voices. I listened to what they said and I sympathized because I could see myself in their shoes. Then I watched it again. And I saw their teachers and their support system that encouraged them to get to that point. And I saw myself influencing my students to do the same. I saw myself teaching student rhythm and flow and how poetry is just like lyrics.

And if just once every ten years I can have a student with the drive this group of students has, I will be happy. And because there are those students out there, waiting for me to reach out to them, I am not afraid of what my future as an educator holds.

[Published unedited, written in 8 minutes. If you want more from Brave New Voices, just Google it and be amazed.]

Upular

This made me lol in my roflcopter. And grin so so so much. So if you like the movie Up! in the slightest, I suggest watching this.



Yes, that's my way of saying I'm too lazy and/or busy to think of a real post. Enjoy! XD

Woof!

I'm singing this song and my rabbit is staring at me all wide eyed, ears tuned in all weird. Despite me singing almost everyday, he still sometimes gets all freaked out by it. He's much happier overall though, now that he lives away from dogs who aren't trying to eat him anytime they enter the room.

Which will be a problem when I get a dog. For my 21st birthday. Yeah, I've got this planned. Since it's towards the end of the year, I can get a puppy and keep him (or her) in the apartment for about a week. Then it's summer and I'll be at home and I can be with the pup and by the time we get back to school, s/he'll be fairly decently trained and on his/her way to being an awesome dog.

So basically, no alcohol for my b-day gift please. Dog toys would be a much better option. Or you know, both. Whatevs. That's totally responsible. XD

But really, what dog should I get? I go for larger dogs, but if I had to get a small dog I'd get a Pomeranian or a Havanese. Medium would ideally be a Border Collie, but I don't have the energy or time to train one of those just yet. And they get grumpy and destructive if not entertained enough. Which s/he wouldn't be while I'm in college. So I'm thinking maybe an Aussie Shep instead. But they don't have tails which I think is very very strange. Actually, I'm not too sure about getting a medium sized dog. I'd much rather have a large or giant dog. Like a Berner or a Great Dane. And, of course, there are the typicals such as a lab or a retriever or German Shepherd, so count them in too.

Or I could get a mutt from the Humane Society. I have a few favorites and I'm not sure if they're still there, but if they are I have a retriever mix and a rott/lab that love me almost as much as I love them. And, for some reason, the place seems to get a different St. Bernard monthly, so I'd certainly pick up one of those if possible.

So out of that long list, which do you think I should get? I figure I need to start researching this now so if I decide to go purebred (which is a whole other issue I can't fathom yet, along with if I should get an adult or a puppy), I can start researching breeders with litters due in March so the pup is old enough come May. Savvy? Good! Now get to deciding!