Personal Career Analysis: Secondary English Teaching

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High school is a pivotal time in any young person’s life. All have to trudge, fly, or daze through it. However, some of us never leave it: meaning Teachers. In a country where public education is mandatory and intellect is seen as a common value, the demand for educators will always be insatiable. However, good educators are hard to come by. One such educator would be one Nashvillian by the name of Mrs. Nelson.

This woman not only taught, but enlightened. It was a revelation to me. I could be the same odd, quirky self in my chosen field and might actually give others the grand experience I had in that AP English classroom. To let kids with a wide imagination, like my own, see that their way of thinking was actually a gift and could be used. Until my senior year of high school, I chose an English Teacher’s life because it was a job; so I could minimally survive. Now, it was something I could see myself doing.

Of course, before I can go back to high school, I am required to spend years of my life and thousands of dollars to receive a “higher education.” While I thoroughly believe college has become mediocre, the process is necessary and a bit lengthened for future educators. As outlined by the Occupational Outlook Handbook, I’m simply required to “major in the subject [I] plan to teach while also taking a program of study in teacher preparation” (2). This entitles the full curriculum for a normal bachelor’s degree, with classes of an English major, and all required education classes involved with my specific major. Also, I’ll be required to “merge theory with practice and allow [myself] to experience a year of teaching firsthand” (Outlook, 3). Simply put, I will have to apply for “an approved teacher training program” ...

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...he English teacher who is sincerely interested in their subject and can produce viable intellectuals in to society. There is nothing more I can do at the moment than suck up my depression at my ever-growing debt and get through college with as much class as possible. All I can do is succeed, and possibly I will never end up like our case-subject Susan.

Works Cited
United States Bureau of Labor Statistics. “Teachers – Preschool, Kindergarten, Elementary,

Middle, and Secondary.” Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2008-09 Edition.

Department of Labor, 18 Dec. 2007. Web. Sept. 2009.

Austin Peay State University. “English.” Austin Peay State University Undergraduate Bulletin,

2009-2010 79.1 (June 2009): 333-340. Print.

Fox, Dana L.. "From English Major to English Teacher: Two Case Studies ".

The English Journal Feb 1995 Pp17-25.

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