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prosodicI love my job!
Most of the time, it's pretty boring. I have to write articles, all in the same format, about careers or degrees in subjects that I know nothing or care nothing about (mostly...I get to choose 2 articles at at time that usually reflect my personal interests, and then I'm assigned 3 others automatically on any subject). Sometimes the careers or degrees are similar enough that it's almost like I'm writing the same article, just in different ways.
But today has been productive for me. Because I am hitting on stuff in my research that actually has relevance to me, and I'm feeling excited.
Not only should I look into a Masters in Education in Reading & Literacy, but I should also look into a Masters in English Education. Because that doesn't require that you become a teacher. You can become a reading program administrator, a curriculum developer...and even work in non-academic environments as an editor or consultant for educational and publishing companies.
And here I was getting depressed about my seemingly useless English degree...
I forgot that there are so many interesting things I can be doing with it outside of teaching. When I was in grad school before, the emphasis was always on becoming an instructor or professor, which I quickly learned was not for me. I'm not the type that can stand in front of a classroom...especially in situations that call for improvising half of the time (as college classes tend to do). It still amazes me that I managed to do it for 2 years and pretty much loathed it the entire time. But I'm not averse to working in education in some capacity. I just don't want to teach.
And I can still write, right? In fact, I always thought my writing was more fresh and interesting when my mind was occupied on other things for a time. Now that I'm focused on writing as a career choice, I can't really do anything creative with it anymore (unless I'm doing travel writing, but my current lifestyle doesn't really support that anymore). All the writing I do now is copywriting (SEO stuff for websites), and not very interesting at that.
I've been giving this a lot of thought lately. I miss academia so damn much and I want to go back to school more than anything. It's highly likely that it will have to be distance education this time, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I love being in the classroom (as a student, not a teacher).
Most of the time, it's pretty boring. I have to write articles, all in the same format, about careers or degrees in subjects that I know nothing or care nothing about (mostly...I get to choose 2 articles at at time that usually reflect my personal interests, and then I'm assigned 3 others automatically on any subject). Sometimes the careers or degrees are similar enough that it's almost like I'm writing the same article, just in different ways.
But today has been productive for me. Because I am hitting on stuff in my research that actually has relevance to me, and I'm feeling excited.
Not only should I look into a Masters in Education in Reading & Literacy, but I should also look into a Masters in English Education. Because that doesn't require that you become a teacher. You can become a reading program administrator, a curriculum developer...and even work in non-academic environments as an editor or consultant for educational and publishing companies.
And here I was getting depressed about my seemingly useless English degree...
I forgot that there are so many interesting things I can be doing with it outside of teaching. When I was in grad school before, the emphasis was always on becoming an instructor or professor, which I quickly learned was not for me. I'm not the type that can stand in front of a classroom...especially in situations that call for improvising half of the time (as college classes tend to do). It still amazes me that I managed to do it for 2 years and pretty much loathed it the entire time. But I'm not averse to working in education in some capacity. I just don't want to teach.
And I can still write, right? In fact, I always thought my writing was more fresh and interesting when my mind was occupied on other things for a time. Now that I'm focused on writing as a career choice, I can't really do anything creative with it anymore (unless I'm doing travel writing, but my current lifestyle doesn't really support that anymore). All the writing I do now is copywriting (SEO stuff for websites), and not very interesting at that.
I've been giving this a lot of thought lately. I miss academia so damn much and I want to go back to school more than anything. It's highly likely that it will have to be distance education this time, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I love being in the classroom (as a student, not a teacher).