Many Talents

I'm one of those people who does a lot of things, and a few of them well.

For example, I can follow a pattern, mend clothes, and sew passingly well. If I'm determined, as was the case with creating ruffles on my own for the first time, I can make things happen. I even made a costume for a friend's Christmas play (granted, she was playing the Virgin Mary, so it wasn't exactly a complicated costume). But when it comes to creating something with no pattern and no guidance? Maybe not.

I enjoyed being involved in all aspects of theatre - performing, working backstage, working as part of the tech crew. I got pretty good at learning lines and dance steps, and I learned how to set lights for a show and call the cues to help the show to move smoothly. But one of the things that I could never master was projection.

It wasn't such a big deal at the community theatre. It was a small space, so I didn't have to push much to get my voice to the back of the auditorium. I had several solos and duets in that theatre, and they helped to boost my confidence.

The college stage, though? My voice barely made it to the front row. I had a solo in one show, and many people told me they had trouble hearing the one stanza that I had. I worked so hard with my voice teacher to try and figure out how to get my projection stronger, but it just didn't click. As a result (and also probably due to my habit of being very shy and struggling to showcase my personality), lead roles were never in my sights.

With singing, I face similar struggles. Without a microphone, it was hard to hear me. In addition, I lacked the creativity to ad-lib on the fly, or to sing much past the basic melody of a song. Though I had lots of support from those around me, I didn't quite feel like singing was something that was meant to be a career choice for me.

Growing up in the church meant that I used my talents where ever I could in the name of ministry. I was on several youth group dance teams, both liturgical and more contemporary. I became the praise and worship leader at my parents' church, learning to play the keyboard and helping to choose the songs for the week. I was even bold enough to write a few songs, playing one at my mom's wedding. But even though I was able to extend those skills into other places - learning Ballroom dancing in college, for example - I never felt that I was really great at any of them.

This feeling of not excelling at anything in particular led me to teaching. When I neared my graduation date from undergrad, I was struggling to decide what career path I wanted to follow. I didn't want to be a journalist, though my grades suggested that I would be good at it. I didn't want to be a struggling theatre artist working a second job until I could get something in the industry - something that, due what I mentioned above, seemed unlikely.

A friend who knew that I was the children's church pastor at my parents' church suggested that I look into teaching. As it so happened, I had just interviewed the alternate route program director for one of my journalism courses, so I had a head start on my research. After looking into it further, I decided that was the direction that I was going to go. (For awhile, I'd juggled the idea of being a seamstress since I'd worked in the costume shop, but I was soundly shut down by friends and family.)

So after graduation, I started my alternate route program to become a teacher.

Now, despite the late pivot, I'm a great teacher. I don't think that I'm bragging in saying this. After a tough first year, I buckled down and made it my business to be the best teacher that I could be. My students made progress, and I was named team leader at two different schools, which put me in the position to help other teachers to learn. Teaching is one of the few things in my life that I feel I'm excellent at.

Interestingly enough, teaching has been the platform to help me learn other skills.

Last year, I took a self-guided course and learned the basics of data analysis. I was fascinated that so many of the skills that I learned in teaching formed a great foundation for data analysis. Looking at and formatting data, creating visuals to present to others, making action plans based on the data; basically, things that I do every day as a teacher helped me to connect with the new skills I was learning.

This year I took on a new challenge; instructional design. Based on the name alone, I knew that there had to be some similarities to teaching. But I'm finding that many of the theories and skills involved are so closely aligned to my experience that it's almost funny.

As I researched different adult learning theories, I realize that they're not too much different from teaching elementary age students. Sure, there's more nuance when you consider that adults have more lived experiences than elementary students, so you have to take that into consideration, but I find that makes the process simpler since I don't have to build in as much background knowledge.

Some of the platforms used in instructional design are challenging, but I've always thrived with technology when I have to figure it out on my own or find resources to teach me (a great byproduct of being homeschooled). In a way, they remind me of adult learning courses that I've had to take to keep up my teaching certification, and the ways that I've wished they could be updated.

I'm proud of myself for latching on to a few skills and using them to become a better version of myself. Certain things that I've done recently - learning data analytics, teaching myself instructional design, even writing this blog - have become incredibly enriching. They've all built on the skills of mine that I've felt strongest at (teaching and writing).

So yes, while I may have a wide array of skills that I'm not the greatest at and have nothing whatsoever to do with each other, I'm still growing and learning with the skills that I'm already strongest at.

And growth is the most important thing.