LELA House

Tag: education

  • Reading and Journaling are Low Entry Threshold Endeavors

    Reading and Journaling are Low Entry Threshold Endeavors

    I minored in education in college. I started on the teacher certification track, but I couldn’t make myself take micro economics. I signed up for micro every semester for my first three years of college. I went to the first class, left at the end of class, marched to the registrar’s office, and dropped it. Students couldn’t complete the teacher certification track without taking micro economics, so I eventually switched to a minor in education instead, saving the registrar and myself from unnecessary headaches. I didn’t realize at 20 years old that nearly a quarter of a century later I would get my teaching certification.

    Becoming a high school teacher was a high entry threshold endeavor.

    Because I hadn’t earned my certification as an undergraduate, I needed to earn an alternate route certification. Doing so required having earned a doctorate in my subject area. Fortunately for me, I met that qualification. In hindsight, however, taking micro economics as an undergraduate would have been a much quicker, easier, and cost-efficient undertaking. I don’t recommend anyone spend nine years working on a doctorate, while meandering through not one, not two, but three different dissertation chairs. Nevertheless, the dissertation journey enabled me to pass the first barrier to my certification.

    Next came the Praxis – a complex set of examinations. I studied; I practiced; I passed (or as I like to reminisce – veni, vidi, vici).

    Earning my Ph.D. in English and passing the Praxis, while the most difficult aspects of my alternate certification route journey, were the least painful parts. Well, earning my doctorate was painful at points, but that pain belongs to a separate process.

    Next came months and months of administrative anguish. Months and months of submitting forms, waiting, resubmitting, calling, emailing, resubmitting, and on and on, until finally one day in February, I checked the state website and saw my teaching certification.

    Through the years I had taught on the college level, which I knew differed from teaching high school. I also did some informal teaching aide sort of work in my mom’s high school classroom from time to time. And I talked with a lot of high school teachers. From those experiences, I went into teaching high school with no delusions about how difficult it would be. I knew it would be the hardest thing I had ever done.

    I was right.

    I sank, and I swam. I failed, and I learned. I wasn’t the best teacher my students could have had, but I also wasn’t the worst. I was myself, though, and I loved them hard. My love for my students got me through many rough days, and it got quite a few of them through as well.

    Becoming a high school teacher was a high entry threshold endeavor. Incorporating reading and journaling as educator self care activities is not.

    Journaling at its most basic requires something to write on and something to write with. Paper works just fine as something to write on. If you don’t have paper, you can use a cardboard box, a napkin – anything that will hold ink, graphite, or other writing medium. (I don’t recommend towels; they don’t work nearly as well as napkins – I particularly favor the brown paper napkins offered at fast-food establishments). A pen will do as something to write with. If you don’t have a pen, you can use a pencil, crayon, marker, chalk – anything that will mark your writing surface. You can get fancy and use a notebook or even a leather-bound journal. You can use special pens. You can type into a Word document; you can use an online journaling app. I have done all of these, but you don’t have to. To journal, you just need your thoughts, something to write with, and something to write on.

    Reading is similarly simple. You need something to read. You can read online, on a device, or a physical product. You can even listen to audio. The world offers endless ways to consume text – newspapers, novels, cereal boxes, text books. I’m not here to judge your pleasure reading; I just want to encourage you to do it.

    We’ve explored educators’ need for self care and discussed reading and journaling as viable avenues of self care. Reading and journaling have relieved my stress and restored my equilibrium, and I bet they can help you, too. Why not try them today? We’ll begin discussing the benefits of reading and journaling next.

    ***

    I am doing a 31-day series on reading and journaling as self care for educators. Each day of the series has bonus journal prompts. Click to join the LELA House family of educators committed to nourishing their reading, writing, and creative souls. You’ll receive a link to the journal prompts and gain early access to upcoming LELA House ideas, courses, and products. You only need to subscribe once. I will add a new worksheet each day to the access link.

    Roshaunda D. Cade, Ph.D. is an educator, writer, and creator.  She lives in St. Louis, MO with her husband and teenage children and enjoys reading, writing, dancing, and pushing her creative boundaries.  You can follow her at roshaundacade.com, lela-house.com, and on Teachable, Medium, Youtube, Pinterest, and Instagram. 

  • How Do You Educate?

    How Do You Educate?

    When hearing the term educator, many people envision a classroom teacher. That’s an accurate depiction of an educator, but it’s not an all-encompassing one.

    I’ve worked in education my entire adult life, even before I graduated from college. As an undergraduate, I was an RA in several different types of residence halls, and I tutored at a local after school program.

    After graduation, I worked as a hall director, director of minority affairs, and early alert coordinator at a local college. I didn’t set foot in a classroom, at least not as an instructor, but I worked as an educator, nevertheless, ensuring programming, diversity, safety, and academic success for the entire school community.

    After that endeavor, I started graduate school and worked as an instructor for many composition and African American Studies courses at several universities. Before completing my doctorate, I got a job directing a university writing center.

    Since then I’ve led two university writing centers – one an on-ground center with mostly student staff, and the other an online center with an entirely professional staff – and realized I love to help people gain confidence and courage in their writing.

    Although this reads like a straightforward path, my trajectory as an educator has been circuitous. I’ve also worked in a faculty development center and as an assistant director in an academic resource center. I’ve been a high school teacher. I’ve served on a vision committee trying to start a new school, and I’ve served on a Title I committee at an all-girls urban charter school.

    As an educator I’ve taught classes, but I’ve done so much outside of the classroom, too.

    Educators are teachers, but we do not only teach in classrooms. We are librarians (my high school librarian transformed my life), and cafeteria workers (I know a cafeteria worker who spends her free time pondering how to positively impact students in the few seconds she shares with them through the day), and deans (a dean once advised me to study what I loved, and that made all the difference), and department administrators (one department administrator made my 4 years of undergraduate feel like home), homeschoolers (a homeschool dad challenged me to reimagine what makes a good education), and on, and on, and on.

    How do you educate? What roles do you play?

    No matter how you educate, LELA House is here to care for you as you care for others.

    ***

    Here’s some inspiration for those who inspire – 15 Empowering Maxims for Education Mavericks.Roshaunda D. Cade, Ph.D. is an educator, writer, and creator.  She lives in St. Louis, MO with her husband and teenage children and enjoys reading, writing, dancing, and pushing her creative boundaries.  You can follow her at roshaundacade.com, lela-house.com, and on Teachable, Medium, Youtube, and Instagram.