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 A smile and a wave...
Erik Hilden [Cadre 8] - 05/19/2010
Greetings, OMET community. It has been a really long time since I have been on this page. Though I did not forget it was here, and think about my OMET experience often as I hunt for work as a teacher, I have not found inspiration or time to jump on and say hello. That, and I guess I would not know what to say.
I could tell you about graduating from Lewis and Clark and earning a 4.00 and a MAT. I could tell you about the three disabled students I work with and all the lovely project-based curriculum I have planned for their summer school experience. I could tell you about the death of my dog, whom anyone from my cadre might remember. But none of that seems relevant (though I will post my ideas for my ADHD project based summer school later on). I am not far from finishing my first novel, or at least an edited first draft, and have been chasing jobs all over the country. All that and I expect you to ask - "so what?"
Good question! I don't have an answer.
But I can tell you about adventure. I can tell you about where my job hunt has taken me and the strange things I have seen. My job hunt has taken me to New Orleans, for the longest interview I have ever experienced followed by the first Mardi Gras parade and plenty of French quarter madness. I have never seen anything like it, and must admit that I have fallen in love with the place. Soon, my job hunt will take me to Charleston, South Carolina, and also to Memphis, Tennessee, Atlanta, Georgia, and Washington DC. What ties all of this together? Where is the answer to the "so what," the question that any good teacher and student should ask when reading a blog post, newspaper article, magazine, novel, etc.? Discovery.
In all of this madness, the job hunting, the tragedies, the victories, and the adventures, I have found "adventure." I am preparing to move across the country, lighting out for the perimeter, where there are no stars. I have found that my OMET experience has given me more than I thought it did four years ago, when I graduated. It not only gave me an understanding of constructivist approaches, project-based learning, engagement, and the like, it showed me that the greatest tool I can bring to my own classroom is a sense of adventure, the ability to be flexible, to adapt to the needs of my students, to be creative in my curriculum design and involve my students in it whenever possible, and to let things happen, let it all hang out (in a wholesome way, of course). It served me well as I earned my second degree and it served me well as a private teacher, substitute teacher, and consultant.
Let the adventure begin.
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