Interview with Mark Swain

Swain, Mark. Personal Interview. 11 November 2014.

Q: How do you know what to choose for a major?
A: Beginning freshmen year of college, it is not the best time to choose a major. Choosing a major is a personal choice and you know what your major will be when your ready. To choose a major personal choice, interests, going to websites such as the Bureau of Labors Statistics, taking aptitude tests, and following steps of relatives should be taken into consideration.

Q: What to do with your passions/interests?
A: If you find that you have many passions, you can consider yourself as a passionate person? If you feel strong about a passion follow it and pursue it.

Q: If you could picture yourself doing it, should it be pursued?
A:  If it is a passion, then yes. However, be careful to not choose a blind passion. This meaning, choose something that you know you have a passion for. Not something where you would change your mind about it. Get well educated in that passion before pursuing it and get advised by someone in that profession.

Q: Should income be taken into consideration?
A: In my opinion, yes. It is not unreasonable to think about what your income will be. You will have bills to pay and you would want to buy things you want. If you aren't making enough money to cover basic needs, then you should change your passion into something that will allow you to pay for these things. You don't want to be 40 and still living with your parents.

Q: By choosing just one thing, would there be regrets in the other things you didn't try to pursue?
A: Possibly. There will always be regret in things you choose to do. To avoid regret, think carefully about your options and what you really want to do. There are even times when you finally finish school and go into the field to find out that you don't like that specific profession. As a freshmen at Lewis, I was going to become a male nurse. However, I found art interesting in part from my mother and I decided to switch to art. I love my job now and I'm glad I switched to this.

Q: Is there a way to rule out some of the things I like so there can be focus on only one thing?
A: The way to rule out some things, school wise, is to talk with professors. They will be able to tell you the pros and cons of the major you want to pursue. The most important thing is to get to know it!

Q: Is there a way to know which passion/interest to follow?
A: The feasibility and the validity of it.

Q: Should other peoples opinions be taken into consideration?
A: Yes. Talk with everyone. That includes family, friends, and teachers. They will be able to give you a new perspective about the career. If you don't have an idea what you want to pursue, it is very important to talk to others about it.

Tip he gave me:
Since you have a passion for music and language, you can still do this even though you are going into math and secondary ed. If you love doing these things it doesn't mean you have to stop the other things. Continuing with your math degree, you can get a job in a school, receive your tenure after 5 years and slowly get involved in these areas. If you still want to do music, you can ask the music teacher if you could get involved with working with productions or choirs. As for the languages, you can start a club that focus on Spanish or the other language you want to pursue, Chinese. If this doesn't work with the school, you can continue with learning piano and guitar. From there you can open your own music shop and give lessons. This would help by giving you extra money on the side while doing the things you want to pursue.

From this interview I learned many new ways to view on how to figure out what you want. I don't have to give up learning new instruments, singing, and learning new language's in trying to pursue a career as a teacher. I can focus on the major I choose because that would be my main job. However, I can continue to grow in other areas so that new opportunities can open up. Because after all, we are selling ourselves to the outside world once we graduate from Lewis.

Tedx Talks. " How To Find Your Passion and Inner Awesomeness." YouTube. YouTube, LLC. 7 September 2013. Web. 4 November 2014.

              The speaker, Eugene Hennie, talks about how creative he was a child and how many people are too. He follows by saying that no one really tells us that we are horrible at a specific thing. Because of this, the thought that we aren't meant to follow that as a career or dream never crosses our minds. As he talks about his life story on how he hated his job and found another job that completed his passion. His passion was to have a job where it did not seem as a job and something that involved a lot of traveling. When he quit his job and moved to another company he was able to finally live that and create sort of like a step-by-step suggestion on how to find your passion.
               The first step was to know yourself. You have to know what make you happy/angry, what you like/hate, and who you are. Without knowing who you really are, it is hard to find out what your true passion(s) are. The second step is to embrace yourself. The example he gives is if you're a nerd, embrace your nerdiest quality, if your an athlete, embrace your athletic quality. Everything becomes easier as you learn to embrace yourself. The third step is to surround yourself with encouraging people. If you are part of a group with negative feelings, they will become attached to you and your thinking. The same with the positive people. The fourth step is to know what you want. You might say you want a job that has great pay, but in reality you want to travel. After this comes to work hard for what you want. To attain your passion you have to lose sleep and put all of your time into developing it. The sixth step is to make the impossible the new possible. The question you have to ask yourself in this step is, how can I not do this? The next step is to fail hard and fail often. The saying goes, "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again." Failure is part of discovering what your passions truly are. If you fail at something and you decide it isn't the right thing for you, you can move on to something else. You can keep trying until you find something that does make you happy. The eighth step is to beat your craft. Then comes learning to embrace confrontation. If you truly want something, you have to be able to face people and not make excuses as to why you can not do it. The final step that was talked about was to do what is right. There will always be things that are right and those that are wrong.

Article Summery

Balyer, Aydin; Ozcan, Kenan. " Choosing Teaching Profession as a Career: Students' Reasons." International Education Studies 7.5 (2014): 104-115. Web. May 2014.

When considering a degree in teaching, sometimes a student chooses this because there is influence around them. Many students chose teaching due to intrinsic motivation. This meaning that they do it, not for themselves, but for others. By taking on this job, they believe that they are going to help students. They see themselves helping students achieve higher education. Many take part in this because they love the job. The love being with students and being able to teach them and help them in anyway that is possible. Some of the teachers don't chose this career because of money or its position in social situations, rather because it is something they will enjoy. On the other hand, others do it because of extrinsic motivation. They do it because of the benefits it offers, such as good pay and good working conditions. They get days off such as holidays and summers, something many other jobs don't allow a person to receive.

This relates to my topic because it highlights some of the main points as to why I'm considering(almost 100% sure) that this will be my future career.

The Endless Possibilities

In elementary school, I took classes that involved almost every subject: English, math, art, music, etc. They are used to give us options and to see what becomes of interest of us. Going into middle school, teachers told me that there was still a long road to college, but that I should be aware of what I do want to eventually become. In high school, there was more focus on planning for college and what you want to become. The problem is, I didn't have a solid plan. Now in college, majoring in Math and Secondary with a minor in Chinese language and literature, things seem to have gotten worse. In high school, I wasn't able to explore many of the different interest that were offered. I have a passion for math and could see myself in front of a class shaping future generations. However, this isn't the only thing I see myself doing. When I pick up my guitar or play chords on the piano, I could picture myself in stage performing. When I learn a new language, I could see myself traveling the world exploring that country. I'm locked in what I've chosen as a study, but with every opportunity I get to try something new, it seems that I enjoy it. I believe that I haven't figured out anything at all.
1. How do you know what to choose for  major?
2. What do you do with your passions?
3. If you could picture yourself doing it, should it be pursued?
4. Should the income be taken into consideration?
5. If I chose something, would there be regret in other things?
6. Is there a way to rule out some of the things I like so that I could focus on one?
7. How do I(you) know which passion to follow?
8. Should others opinions be taken into consideration?

Lavy, Victor. "Using performance-based pay to improve the quality of teachers. The Future of Children." Spring 2007.
 http://ezproxy.lewisu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1519298617?accountid=12073
 
Kyriakides, L., & Kelly, K. L. "The impact of engagement in large-scale assessment on teachers' professional development: The emergent literacy baseline assessment project. Journal of Research in Childhood Education." Fall 2003.
http://ezproxy.lewisu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/203879317?accountid=12073

Beck, K. A., Ogloff, J. R., & Corbishley, A. "Knowledge, compliance, and attitudes of teachers toward mandatory child abuse reporting in British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Education." Winter 1994.
http://ezproxy.lewisu.edu/login?url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/215376980?accountid=12073

Vocation of a Teacher

Teachers are part of everyone's lives. They are often viewed as people who have a great amount of knowledge and get in front of a group younger people to teach. This is true, they teach math, English, science, etc. Many of the times, teachers serve as support for students. If they struggle through a topic, they are there. It even extends if it's something beyond the classroom. Going into this type of career, I will want to expand on this and therefore my research project will consist on the topic of teachers.
1. What made you consider teaching and in that subject?
2. Is this the job you love or would you prefer something else?
3 What is the salary for a teacher?
4. Is it worth getting paid that amount?
5. Are there any benefits?
6. Is everyone fit to become a teacher?
7. Overall, is it worth being a teacher?
8. How do you deal with misbehaving students?
9. How do you deal when students don't like you as a teacher?
10. How can a teacher change lives?

Influence of Literacy

In the interview from Harvard, the interviewer and the journalist start from Stephen Greenblatt’s childhood and end up to where he currently is. During his childhood, Stephen was greatly influenced by his parents. His mother was a stay at home mom while his father was a lawyer. Although his mother did not have a college education, he still learned stories from his mother. Many of the stories he was told were not related to family. They were stories in which other people told stories to his parents and were told to him. Also, many were meant to symbolize him as a character to teach him a type of lesson. In his home, there was not a great deal of influence from literacy. As he grew older, he took into consideration what his decisions could be. In the end, he decided to stay and finish his education in England instead in pursuing law in Yale.