Character Takeover

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I'm Mel and Kar asked if I'd be interested in doing a guest post on her blog. She's super stressed just now, so I don't mind helping out. Apparently I've to tell you a bit about myself then, "you know, whatever you want to write about is fine". Althought that was after I vetoed the idea of an interview. Some crazy woman wanted to know if I pee with the door open when I'm in the house on my own. Seriously.


Anyway, like I said I'm Mel, I'm 23 and I'm an artist. Well, nearly - I'm an art student. I'm in the middle of my Masters in Fine Art and its the last week of the semester. That means dissertation and summer school at Magic Camp. Ok, its not really called that but Fred used the nickname on our first day and it kinda stuck. I'm teaching this year. Not sure how I feel about that yet, mainly because it wasn't too long ago that I was on the other side of the classroom. I'm still in Uni in my mid-twenties so I'm reasonably fond of learning, but even Uni gives you the summer off for the first four years. Also, imagine hosting a summer school in Scotland. Very few adults, never mind modern childern with short attention spans want to spend their summer doing homework and living with other girls who only have one thing in common.

Yeah, I'm a bit nervous about being a teacher. My teachers, my Mentor, and the other girls at Magic Camp are a really big part of the person I am today. That's a pretty huge responsibility and I'm not sure I'm up to it yet.

We all have teachers that we admired, and teachers that we tormented. Whether playing an active role in this tormenting, or just being complicitly quiet I'd be surprised if anyone is guiltless. Thats not what's worrying me though, I have some strong role models in my Mum and my friends and Fred will be there too. She's been teaching for two years now and is awesome. I expect to get some grief from the girls, but I'm not the kind to be bullied and I'm sure I'll be able to handle my class. I'm worried that I'll not have anything to teach them beyond the magic basics they're there for. There's so much more to schooling than textbooks and tests. The really great teachers inspire, motivate and bring out the best in their students. They help you discover who you are. How can I do that if I don't know who I am?