Her Story
About Brittany
My career in education started earlier than I realized. When I was in 8th grade, I was going to aftercare after school, and one of the ladies asked me if I would like to volunteer and help with the younger kids downstairs so I didn't have to be in aftercare. That planted a seed, though I didn't really think about it at the time because I actually wanted to be a historian. I took a career test to kind of see what the best fit would be, and I decided to go into early child education in my undergrad. The volunteering kind of gave me a little bit of a start pretty early on, and some hints and clues about what I'm doing now as a teacher and educator. Before then, I really wasn't interacting a lot with kids unless you counted my younger sister at the time, but not really on that level. I have a bachelor's degree in early child education and an associate's degree in general education. I've done student teaching observations for 6 years, been a teacher floater assistant for like 3 years, and also been a teacher assistant, instructional assistant, and done teacher training. Even now I'm a substitute teacher, and I've also been helping a lady that's a lead teacher of a startup company. I've been teaching for many years.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Brittany
01What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
I would probably just go back to the lady asking me, would you like to volunteer with the kids so you don't have to be in aftercare. I mean, that's - I feel like that was a seed planted. Also, in college, I was given the advice to take my time, because college isn't like high school. If you don't graduate in 4 years, it's looked as a bigger deal than in college. Me taking a little bit longer than everybody else benefited me in the long run. I would say that, because I didn't take as many classes as everybody else, but I still ended up finishing. So I feel like the advice I was given to take less classes benefited me, basically, to be more likely to pass, rather than trying to take so many credits and basically rush. I know that's not necessarily tradition, and I definitely went against the tradition in schools, and was made fun of because of it, but now I have 2 degrees, so it's kind of like, okay.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would say specifically for early childhood education, we are not just babysitters - we are also educators. I know a lot of times people that I've come into contact don't necessarily take early child education as seriously, because it's not with older kids. I feel like there's nothing wrong with getting your provisional license later. I definitely feel like people don't need to rush, and everyone's path in education is different. So I feel like there's always new learning opportunities for educators, and also with kids, because I feel like it's ever-changing and evolving, especially with technology. I would just say to listen to people's different opinions, because everybody's teaching style is different, and it's not a bad thing to have a different style in teaching, or difference in personality. I definitely believe that you should give people credit where credit is due, and I feel like in education we need all different types of educators with different personalities and vast talents, so I feel like it's endless and the possibilities.
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