This blog is about world adventures...but I consider my description of the decisions that led us to our new journey (path is yet to be officially determined) to count as one of our adventures. So...brace yourselves for my very first non-foreign-travel-related-entry!
I never liked history until I was a freshman in high school. I had an amazing World History teacher, Mark Shelley, who made history interesting - taught me intriguing stories about the Romanovs and Churchill and Stalin and made the world suddenly make sense. I was challenged and I thrived. When I was a sophomore in high school Mr. Shelley announced that he was moving to a high school over an hour away so that he would have the opportunity to teach AP European History. On one of the last days of school before Mr. Shelley left he asked me to stop by his room after school. When I did he had a large stack of folders waiting for me and he challenged me to become a teacher.
I have thought back on that afternoon so many times over the past thirteen years...I was so full of emotions. Teach?! What? I wanted to become a doctor - I already had an anatomy book and had memorized all the bones of the hand...and foot (yeah, I really was a nerd, even then). But...as my high school career progressed, I couldn't silence Mark's challenge "Beth, please teach."
When I attended the Governor's School for the Academics during the summer between my junior and senior year I signed up for history classes, not pre-med related classes. During my senior year I applied for a teaching fellowship program and based my college search on my desire to find a school with a strong history and education program. And my dreams did manage to come true! I managed to earn one of the ten Teaching Fellows spots at Furman University and had my true magical moment when I opened my financial aid packet letter and realized that between my merit based scholarships, the teaching fellows scholarship, and the financial aid, I had a "full ride" to the best university in the state!
While at Furman, I majored in history and minored in secondary education and social studies. I enjoyed the collegiate environment tremendously and realized another one of my dreams when I managed to earn a spot on the foreign travel program to the Baltic States for the winter of 2005 - I still remember the moment I found out I was going to not just leave the country - but would be visiting several countries and best of all - RUSSIA! I could have never predicted how much travel would change my life or how much I would fall in love with it and the happiness it would bring me - but it was amazing! The forty-two days I spent abroad were some of the most magical and formative days of my life. I still find foreign travel to be just that - magic! I have since been to Europe a dozen times and have visited over thirty-six countries across the world on six of the continents - some days I still pinch myself!
When I was sixteen I started working as a cashier in a grocery store and was competitively proud of how quickly I learned all the "PLU numbers" and how to handle all of the different scenarios that could arise as I worked with customers. And when I did so in...one or two days...I quickly realized that for my career I wanted a job that was always changing, always different, and continually challenging. I wanted something that I couldn't become great at in a matter of days - if I chose something that took me years it would mean so much more when I finally became great. So my patient, enduring goal since I have become a teacher is the continually hope that I might someday, eventually become a great teacher.
Newly married, newly graduated, newly transplated to Florida, I never could have guessed how amazing my journey would be over the next seven years. When I first started my adventure in education I thought it would be years and years and years before anyone would want me to teach AP classes...and honestly wondered if I would really ever be a good enough teacher to tackle AP. I wanted to challenge students, I wanted to make them think, I wanted to help them develop skills that would prepare them for college, I wanted to help them to become more tolerant and globally aware, I wanted to be a mentor students could turn to, and I wanted to be respected. I wanted to eventually become a good, effective educator.
The past seven years have not been easy for me. I am not very good at balancing home life and school life...I am very bad at letting my job be all consuming. I learned my first year that a perfectionist cannot be an educator. I either had to ditch perfectionism or ditch teaching...so I gave up on trying to be perfect and just tried to do my best each day. I traveled the world, I traveled with students, I traveled with other teachers on fellowships, I worked on my masters, I tried to always be able to justify why I implemented each thing that I did in my classroom.
So now I am at a fork in the road of my career path. I could continue progressing as a singular teacher, or I could branch out and try to pursue a path that will enable me to work with teachers to strengthen their instructional techniques and to become empowered to purposefully incorporate technology. But the decision has been an agonizing one...one I have mulled over for months upon months and discussed with my friends, family, mentors, and colleagues endlessly. But here I am.
I would say that I have taken three "Great Leaps" in my life. The first was when I decided I wasn't going to keep worrying about whether Daniel and I were going to work out. Instead I was going to enjoy every moment we spent together and just see where it lead us. The second was when Daniel (my fiance at the time) was offered a job at Harris, but taking it would mean we would move to Florida. My options were to live apart from him for a year, but have a teaching job while working with a structured mentorship program at Furman or...I could leap and move to Florida and see where my career went from there without any certain guarantee of finding a job. It was a pretty big leap. I suppose so is this one. But, the first two worked out pretty well, right?
For my former students who have taken the time to read my words -
Working with students like you...is an honor, a privilege, a blessing, and a dream come true in so many ways. The past few years I have become increasingly exhausted and the one thing that has kept me showing up, kept me working, and kept me going is all of you. I may be having a terrible day, but when the bell rings and it is "go time" - all of that goes away and for forty-four minutes I have fun. I love teaching because I have the unbelievable fortune of working with students like you. Your kind words, your hard work, your enthusiasm for learning, and love for history have meant so much to me over the years - and I will never forget the amazingly special time I had as I worked with some of the dearest, brightest, wittiest, and most talented students I will ever know. Thank you so much for all that you have done for me. You have inspired me, kept me on my toes, pushed me to continually strive to be the best educator that I can be, and have been my motivation to continue showing up each and every day. I became a teacher with the hopes that I would someday get to work with students like each of you and I will miss you each more than you will ever know.
If I can ask one thing of you it is that you will continue to strive to become increasingly more sensitive of others' differences and continually push yourselves to be tolerant, open-minded individuals. If I have taught you anything, hopefully you have learned the danger of hate and bigotry and realize that it is everyone's responsibility to stand up against it. Look out for your fellow human beings. Remember - different is just different.
Much love,
-Mrs. Hals
My tips -
1. Hardwork goes a very long way and no one is above working hard - students who are innately brilliant but lazy are just wasting their God-given talents. No one is above hard work. No one is above cleaning a toilet or mopping a floor or studying for a test.
2. That said - for those type-A students out there - there is more to life than working every minute of every day. I am still working on figuring that one out.
3. Different is different. It is not weird or strange or gross or wrong. Differences are what make this world full of amazingly rich cultures and opinions. Don't judge people for being different.
4. Confidence makes up for a lot. One of my dear old MCC colleagues who is no longer with us used to say "fake it til you make it." My first year teaching I never told my students I was a first year teacher! Haha (see #5 and #6). 98% of my students didn't figure it out until the last month of the school year when it came up in conversation - I just did #5 and said I had been teaching in South Carolina before moving to Florida (I left out the student teaching part...) and...I was perceived in an entirely different way! Square your shoulders, keep your chin up, and smile with confidence. Good luck!
5. Put a positive spin on things - in interviews and in the rest of your life. It's too short to be negative all the time and being positive will take you so much further.
6. Don't apologize for a lack of experience - consider it a strength that you are fresh, eager to learn, and bring a new perspective. I never ever apologized for being a first year teacher when I was interviewing for jobs, rather, I tried to highlight it as a strength not a stigma.
7. Balance is incredibly important - and finding one is a lifelong journey. Career, friends, family, spouse, self...each one deserves time and is important...good luck!
8. There is no greater gift than to have choices - they aren't a curse - they are a blessing. There are people in many parts of this world who can only hopelessly dream of having to make the "overwhelming" and "stressful" choices that you may have to make. That is what I have believed for quite some time - and what I will continue to remind myself as we determine what our next step will be!
Bon Voyage, Friends! Keep in touch! :)
I never liked history until I was a freshman in high school. I had an amazing World History teacher, Mark Shelley, who made history interesting - taught me intriguing stories about the Romanovs and Churchill and Stalin and made the world suddenly make sense. I was challenged and I thrived. When I was a sophomore in high school Mr. Shelley announced that he was moving to a high school over an hour away so that he would have the opportunity to teach AP European History. On one of the last days of school before Mr. Shelley left he asked me to stop by his room after school. When I did he had a large stack of folders waiting for me and he challenged me to become a teacher.
I have thought back on that afternoon so many times over the past thirteen years...I was so full of emotions. Teach?! What? I wanted to become a doctor - I already had an anatomy book and had memorized all the bones of the hand...and foot (yeah, I really was a nerd, even then). But...as my high school career progressed, I couldn't silence Mark's challenge "Beth, please teach."
When I attended the Governor's School for the Academics during the summer between my junior and senior year I signed up for history classes, not pre-med related classes. During my senior year I applied for a teaching fellowship program and based my college search on my desire to find a school with a strong history and education program. And my dreams did manage to come true! I managed to earn one of the ten Teaching Fellows spots at Furman University and had my true magical moment when I opened my financial aid packet letter and realized that between my merit based scholarships, the teaching fellows scholarship, and the financial aid, I had a "full ride" to the best university in the state!
 |
| With a friend, Kimberly at the Berliner Dome in Berlin, Germany during my first week abroad in 2005 |
While at Furman, I majored in history and minored in secondary education and social studies. I enjoyed the collegiate environment tremendously and realized another one of my dreams when I managed to earn a spot on the foreign travel program to the Baltic States for the winter of 2005 - I still remember the moment I found out I was going to not just leave the country - but would be visiting several countries and best of all - RUSSIA! I could have never predicted how much travel would change my life or how much I would fall in love with it and the happiness it would bring me - but it was amazing! The forty-two days I spent abroad were some of the most magical and formative days of my life. I still find foreign travel to be just that - magic! I have since been to Europe a dozen times and have visited over thirty-six countries across the world on six of the continents - some days I still pinch myself!
 |
| From the Great Wall to the pyramids on the Sahara to the Sydney Opera House to Machu Picchu in the Andes to the classic ruins of Athens, Greece we have loved our adventures! |
 |
| We are all dressed up and ready for our first day of school as student teachers! Fall 2005 |
When I was sixteen I started working as a cashier in a grocery store and was competitively proud of how quickly I learned all the "PLU numbers" and how to handle all of the different scenarios that could arise as I worked with customers. And when I did so in...one or two days...I quickly realized that for my career I wanted a job that was always changing, always different, and continually challenging. I wanted something that I couldn't become great at in a matter of days - if I chose something that took me years it would mean so much more when I finally became great. So my patient, enduring goal since I have become a teacher is the continually hope that I might someday, eventually become a great teacher.
 |
| Our wedding day! |
The past seven years have not been easy for me. I am not very good at balancing home life and school life...I am very bad at letting my job be all consuming. I learned my first year that a perfectionist cannot be an educator. I either had to ditch perfectionism or ditch teaching...so I gave up on trying to be perfect and just tried to do my best each day. I traveled the world, I traveled with students, I traveled with other teachers on fellowships, I worked on my masters, I tried to always be able to justify why I implemented each thing that I did in my classroom.
 |
| In St. Peter's square with some amazing students |
I would say that I have taken three "Great Leaps" in my life. The first was when I decided I wasn't going to keep worrying about whether Daniel and I were going to work out. Instead I was going to enjoy every moment we spent together and just see where it lead us. The second was when Daniel (my fiance at the time) was offered a job at Harris, but taking it would mean we would move to Florida. My options were to live apart from him for a year, but have a teaching job while working with a structured mentorship program at Furman or...I could leap and move to Florida and see where my career went from there without any certain guarantee of finding a job. It was a pretty big leap. I suppose so is this one. But, the first two worked out pretty well, right?
For my former students who have taken the time to read my words -
Working with students like you...is an honor, a privilege, a blessing, and a dream come true in so many ways. The past few years I have become increasingly exhausted and the one thing that has kept me showing up, kept me working, and kept me going is all of you. I may be having a terrible day, but when the bell rings and it is "go time" - all of that goes away and for forty-four minutes I have fun. I love teaching because I have the unbelievable fortune of working with students like you. Your kind words, your hard work, your enthusiasm for learning, and love for history have meant so much to me over the years - and I will never forget the amazingly special time I had as I worked with some of the dearest, brightest, wittiest, and most talented students I will ever know. Thank you so much for all that you have done for me. You have inspired me, kept me on my toes, pushed me to continually strive to be the best educator that I can be, and have been my motivation to continue showing up each and every day. I became a teacher with the hopes that I would someday get to work with students like each of you and I will miss you each more than you will ever know.
If I can ask one thing of you it is that you will continue to strive to become increasingly more sensitive of others' differences and continually push yourselves to be tolerant, open-minded individuals. If I have taught you anything, hopefully you have learned the danger of hate and bigotry and realize that it is everyone's responsibility to stand up against it. Look out for your fellow human beings. Remember - different is just different.
Much love,
-Mrs. Hals
My tips -
1. Hardwork goes a very long way and no one is above working hard - students who are innately brilliant but lazy are just wasting their God-given talents. No one is above hard work. No one is above cleaning a toilet or mopping a floor or studying for a test.
2. That said - for those type-A students out there - there is more to life than working every minute of every day. I am still working on figuring that one out.
3. Different is different. It is not weird or strange or gross or wrong. Differences are what make this world full of amazingly rich cultures and opinions. Don't judge people for being different.
4. Confidence makes up for a lot. One of my dear old MCC colleagues who is no longer with us used to say "fake it til you make it." My first year teaching I never told my students I was a first year teacher! Haha (see #5 and #6). 98% of my students didn't figure it out until the last month of the school year when it came up in conversation - I just did #5 and said I had been teaching in South Carolina before moving to Florida (I left out the student teaching part...) and...I was perceived in an entirely different way! Square your shoulders, keep your chin up, and smile with confidence. Good luck!
5. Put a positive spin on things - in interviews and in the rest of your life. It's too short to be negative all the time and being positive will take you so much further.
6. Don't apologize for a lack of experience - consider it a strength that you are fresh, eager to learn, and bring a new perspective. I never ever apologized for being a first year teacher when I was interviewing for jobs, rather, I tried to highlight it as a strength not a stigma.
7. Balance is incredibly important - and finding one is a lifelong journey. Career, friends, family, spouse, self...each one deserves time and is important...good luck!
8. There is no greater gift than to have choices - they aren't a curse - they are a blessing. There are people in many parts of this world who can only hopelessly dream of having to make the "overwhelming" and "stressful" choices that you may have to make. That is what I have believed for quite some time - and what I will continue to remind myself as we determine what our next step will be!
Bon Voyage, Friends! Keep in touch! :)
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