The real question I have for Layla is: how the heck are you a teacher? WHY and HOW are you not a published author? 😭 WHO KEPT YOU FROM YOUR PASSION??!! I'm sure you're as great of a teacher as you are a writer but I feel like you love this so much. You could have a career out of it. I'm sorry if this comes across offensive, I don't mean it to.
I wanted to major in journalism and minor in creative writing when I was a junior/senior in high school. It was my dream. Then three things happened as I was graduating that were a perfect shit storm put an end to it: The (first) Writer’s Strike (07-08), The Global Financial Crisis / Great Recession (07-09), and the collapse of print media/newspapers during that time.
tl;dr - college in the US is a financial scam, and my blue-collar parents wouldn’t co-sign my college loans if I was going into journalism/writing because they didn’t see a path to a stable job. I had earned multiple scholarships, but it was only going to pay for about half my tuition and I needed loans. I went with a career that seemed safe from recession and I knew I could be good at based on my high school experiences of working with early childhood and elementary age students.
I am a damn good (*cough* five star / highly effective *cough*) teacher. I like it and I am passionate about teaching. It's really easy for me. Kids make amazing growth in my program. I get lots of time off. It pays the bills. It's just not what I wanted to do with my life, and I wouldn't recommend anyone go into education under the current conditions in the US. Someday I might publish my own work, but it's not what I'm interested in right now.
Thanks for the love!
