Looking ahead...

I have yet to complete my second degree (but my first bachelor's degree); however, I am looking ahead to determine what it is that I am going to do with my life from work, to the possibility of continuing school, to getting married (that's already determined)...to whatever else may come. I'm a planner. And, because of that, I like to know what's coming up. No surprises.

Yesterday, I filled out my application for graduate school. Just about anyone who has heard I am looking at continuing my education at graduate school has made the remark that they think I'm crazy. I have been in school (college level) every semester since the spring of 2005. Honestly, yes, I'm tired of school. However, I know me and I know that if I quit school now, I may never go back. So, the next logical question is: what are you going to grad. school for?

That's easy. Teaching. The program I have chosen, after a lot of deliberation and searching, is a Masters of Art in Teaching with my specialization area being in elementary education. My associate's degree is in EMS and my bachelor's degree will be in psychology. That knowledge being known, the logical question that follows is: why not pursue a degree furthering one of those degrees?

Well, to start with, there really are no degrees (especially at the master's level) that can further my EMS education and career unless I want to get some kind of management degree (which really isn't me). There isn't anything to help me at the field level. And, due to the fact that I eventually know that I need to remove myself from the field for personal health and safety reasons, it did not seem worthy of my time to spend that time working on a degree that would eventually not do me any good.

As for the psychology side: I did a fair amount of research and discussion with my research team and faculty supervisor about it and realized that if I wanted to pursue something in psychology, I would need to get my doctorate in order to actually work. Most states are phasing out the master's level of certification (that would allow them to actually work in the state). Those states that still allow the master's level of certification require that you work under a Ph.D. And, as much as I love learning about psychology of different groups of people and of different areas, there is a lot that I disagree with and a fair amount that conflicts with what I agree with. As such, I would feel like I need to go to a Christian University so that I am not in constant conflict with my beliefs. For now, it's just small portions of a handful of lectures that I have to put in one group and "learn" for the test and then can forget about it. I know that if I were to get into a specialty, that would change.

So, the next question: why teaching? Teaching is nothing new to me -- but as a profession, it is. When I was in high school, I helped to teach some allied health classes as well as some sports medicine classes. That's where I got my start. I enjoyed it. In my current job as a paramedic, it's all about teaching...and learning. You and your partner have different knowledge bases (with the same general knowledge; however, coming from different programs, you learn different specifics) and thus you share your knowledge with them and they share theirs with you. There are also a strong influx of new people coming into our system. Many times, they come from (to be quite honest) a less progressive and less aggressive system. As a result, this requires some training, retraining and just teaching in general. They do have things to teach us...but, for the better part, there is a lot for them to learn about our progressive and aggressive system. My coworkers are often surprised (their words...and not sure why) to see how patient I (usually) am with educating people about the ins and outs of how to do certain skills and about the policies and procedures of the system.

The next logical question I get is: why elementary school? That's simple, really. I don't want high school for many reasons. Two of the biggest are: lots of behavior problems + the kids are huge (often bigger than me). Middle school seems to be the prep for the time with the defiance beginning then. Elementary school appears to be the best of the three worlds: it was my favorite time in school, everything is fresh and new to these kids, and often times they are eager to learn. I realize I am making heavy generalizations here...but that's what we all do in everything. I'm not looking at this with rose-colored glasses to make it look better, but I am taking the highlights of it to share while not being blind to the problems that can happen, even at the elementary level.

So, my plan is complete this program by December of 2012 and start teaching at some point after that. I'm excited about this and am ready to tackle it!

As a result of the last two pages of talk about my graduate degree, I'm guessing that you have figured out that a career change is in my future. However, in the time between my undergrad. graduation and completion of my graduate degree (or at least when I start my student teaching), I will be returning to a full-time position with my current EMS employer. They have worked so well with me, allowing me to stay on part-time while I've been in school, and now we are in talks of me returning full-time (which doesn't appear to be a problem, according to our hiring/HR chief). The plan is to start after the graduation ceremony the first weekend of May. The bonus for them is that they don't have to put me through training again like they will all the other new people coming through at that point (there will be a group of new hires going through initial training then). So, I just get to jump on a truck and work my life away.

And, as far as the whole marriage thing that's already worked out:
104 days!