Community Contribution #7- Informational Interview

As an aspiring teacher I decided I wanted to reach out to a teacher in the area to get more information on what it looks like to teach here in Victoria. A friend of my uncle is an elementary teacher here in Victoria and was the first person I thought of when preparing for my informational interview. I think because I knew they knew my uncle I felt less nervous reaching out which made me feel more comfortable to ask more questions. I also felt like due to preparing questions and ideas ahead of time I was able to maximize the time I had with her.

Something new I had learned from her is that its actually pretty common here in Victoria to be a substitute teacher for a while before getting a full time position. You may have a couple years of gaining experience before you get your own classroom. This is the case for most jobs but for some reason I didn’t anticipate it being the same for education. You hear so much about teacher shortages but that isn’t the case in every community.

I felt like the conversation was very calm and insightful. It filled me with hope for my future as an educator. She assured me that it may seem hard at the beginning but it gets better and becomes one of the most rewarding things you’ll experience in your life. I really appreciated this sentiment as I’ve been feeling unsure about my future recently. This conversation with her really brought me back to my passion for teaching.

I really enjoyed the personal aspect of the conversation. Through social media its so easy to get caught up in only the glamorized parts of life but I was able to hear the good and the bad through what she was telling me. Though it was different than social media as well because I was only hearing an opinion from one person rather than social media where you can hear a hundred opinions in a really short amount of time. There was less diversity of experience. Yet the time spent with her felt more valuable than any amount of time sent on social media.