A lesson backfire

As part of the CTE standards, career exploration and research is integral. I have touched upon it before - but without corresponding projects and an understanding of what a graphic designer or creative project traffic coordinator actually does, the information in research is lost upon the students. Besides, I am an advocate for the arts - and many of my students have never realized a real living can be made from the creative fields.

A visit to a California company's website (www.creativegroup.com) to research temp and freelance creative jobs sparked a lesson on digital portfolios, career opportunities, applications, resumes and CV's, etc. After a day of furious research on the part of the students, every period ended with a question posed to me. The question was the same in every circumstance:

"Mrs. B, why are you here?"

It was followed with "you can do all this stuff" or "you can make three times more money there" or even the stinging bite of "with all your experience and qualifications, it's stupid that you'd be a teacher."

ouch! from my own students! My feeble response is the standby: "who would you rather have as a teacher?"

Then the double-whammy came on: the bills, the cancelled holiday visit to friends, the reduction of the gifts budget, and the reminder that my net paycheck is exactly the same as when I was a part-time cocktail waitress. It's been decided in our household that I will be returning home and obtaining temp work over the summer. I can't afford not to.