30 July 2012

Bonjour! Parlez vous 'Mathematics'?

About two years ago I began to seriously consider going back to school. My career in flowers was beginning to appear that I couldn't go much higher without opening my own shop and my experience with friends who had done that showed that getting a flower shop up and running successfully meant a time investment at the expense of my first priority: my family. This decision came to a head rather quickly when my job that I loved in a shop that I adored had to be given up so that the my family could fully commit to my daughter's education. I had originally tried to move down to part time and unfortunately it was a fit that didn't work for either of us. So now I had the time and the opportunity to get very involved with the unconventional school choice we had made for the kiddo. And it turns out, I loved it. I really, really loved being in the classroom. It nourished my soul to pour my energy into the class and it opened a door that I had never before considered. Realizing that I wanted to be a teacher came with the bone-deep certainty that I had only experienced as a new mother and a new wife. It was like discovering a whole new side of me that was so, so true to my authentic self.

However.

The authentic new self has some pretty big obstacles to navigate before getting her own classroom.

Because if I am going to take on the challenge of a whole new career there was not going to be any compromising and I was picking the subject I loved come hell or high water. I was going to teach Biology. Whatever it took, that's what I wanted to do for the rest of my career. As a special bonus, the university program incorporates chemistry and environmental science into the teaching certification/degree. Hooray! Three career opportunities for the price of one!! I'm one hell of a bargain shopper. Oh, and there is just one teensy, weensy part I forgot to mention.
Math. A lot of Math.
And even more than just the idea of learning math was that I needed to learn it AND love it well enough so that I could teach it. And not just 'teach' it but get my students excited and involved with it in a way that I never was at their age. Oh yes, the paradigm has begun to shift. Because now I am old enough and wise enough not be defeated by something just because it is daunting. Labor is daunting and yet women keep doing it and the human race keeps going. No. Daunting was not going to kill my dream. My dream of having kids learning like little valued, intelligent mad scientists.
Because that is how the world gets better and I am so determined to do this. I don't have hyper-intelligence but I do have stubbornness and a positive attitude. So I am taking my fears in hand and am working on building a super positive approach to math. I am reading, doing a lot of reading and studying before classes start to shore up my rusty skills. My husband has been drilled into not saying anything remotely negative when math comes up in conversation. And I am treating it like a language. I am going to learn the language of mathematics.
There will probably be some swearing involved.


2 comments:

  1. Oh Maria... You are such a charmer! Good luck on your new path. I'm rooting for you (and so is this fat baby laying next to me)! <3

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  2. Ah Harmony, you are my very first comment! I feel so special :) I want to give that fat baby some big o' sloppy hugs soon. He probably won't be there at the party huh?

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