essay brainstorming

I want to go back to school. I need to go back to school really--I have a great toolbox of tricks and, well, tools to get 2nd graders to read, or wrap their minds around double-digit subtraction. And I have a good beginner's toolbelt of ideas and activities to explore faith with teenagers. But I am in need of more...and so I look at grad programs. The essay questions are fairly standard--and open-ended!

State your occupational and vocational goals as specifically as possible. Then state briefly how you hope to relate your experience at the Graduate School to your goals (2-3 pages).

Right. Vocational goals. When I applied for my current job last year, I wrote in my cover letter that working with teenagers was not something I sought out. It is a vocation that found me, and it is a calling that challenges me every day. The transitions from child to teenager to young adult are so crucial--and they happen so fast. There are so many questions and so many uncertainties and so many decisions. I want to be a resource, a safe space, someone who both holds them accountable and allows them to make mistakes. I know grad school won't do this for me. Experience will do this for me. But I have all these pieces, little bits of knowledge here and there, and I want to pull them together. I want to dive into books, but more than that, I want to dive into discussions, to hear what other people know. The thought of sitting in class with people who are on a similar journey is exciting to me.

This could be a career and a vocation that sticks. I get to teach, I get to laugh, I get to sit in the back of the room in awe of these young women who are so brave and so smart and so open. They're the reason I want to get better at this. Even on my most frustrating day, I want to be my best because they deserve it.