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Blogs by Marie Wadsworth
Personal Journal 1 -- Careers 5/14/2020 7:43:51 PM
Children usually get ideas about what they want to be when they grow up. In the about six months I taught third grade, one of my female students constantly and excitedly told me she wanted to be a scientist when she grew up. That wasn't my story. I didn't know that young what career I wanted to pursue. The first time I remember thinking about a future career was in fifth grade. I had just started to like to read and my favorite books were the Nancy Drew mystery series. I remember wanting to be like Nancy Drew. I told my Dad I wanted to be a detective. He said, "Marie you can't be a detective. You need to know math." Back in the day I had a lot of difficulty and really struggled in math, so I dropped the idea of becoming a detective.
I didn't start considering careers again until high school. I had fallen in love and had a passion for writing, so I thought I'd be the starving American writer writing great American novels. My senior year of high school my guidance counselor suggested journalism might be right up my alley. Ironically, in more modern versions of the Nancy Drew mystery series, Nancy is a journalist, so my childhood goal of becoming Nancy Drew came true. I pursued journalism for 20 years, but my passion for writing hasn't diminished. It's been 35 years and I'm still passionately loving writing fiction and poetry.
After a stint in the military, my family, particularly my ex in laws, suggested I might become a teacher because I had volunteered with Sunday school and Girl Scouts for many years. I had the GI Bill but at the time I was content and satisfied pursuing journalism. Impending layoffs in my profession made me decide to go back to college -- graduate school and use my GI Bill to become a teacher.
In the past decade, half of which I have worked in special education, I have been a teacher. Like journalism, I consider teaching a calling. I like helping people learn, and I have learned a lot too because we're all learners daily. I have been very successful working as a teacher primarily with incarcerated adults so they can get their GEDs. I consider working in this area not only a calling but my niche as well. Some of the men I have worked with have told me I am the best teacher they have had. This has meant the world to me. I continue to teach because I'm willing to learn and an assistant principal told me that makes me a great teacher. I believe people can learn from me and my experiences and I believe teaching is one of the many purposes God has given me in my life.
