Have you ever wondered what your parents really do when they go to work everyday? Well take your kid to work day is a time where you can learn all about your parent’s job and what they do day in and day out to keep food on the table.

Since my mother is a principal, I spent the day at False Creek Elementary School.  While I was there, I helped fifth graders with their projects, watched my mom type out some important “principal stuff” and met some of my moms colleagues.

One colleague that I interviewed was a woman named Maika who works in the school office as an OAA (office assistant administrator/secretary). She reported that you have to have many different abilities in able to excel at her job, one of which being organization. In this job, you would need to be quite efficient and organized in order to keep track of important documents and files. In a job like this, losing a document could be a lot worse than it seems, because they aren’t all things that can be quickly redone or replaced. Another portion of Miaka’s job is first aid. This means handing out ice packs and bandaids at recess and lunch, cleaning scrapes, and determining whether the ill kid wandering through the office is well enough to stay at school or not. To apply for this job, you should’ve had some previous University schooling or already had experience in this field. At the least, you would need to be quick, flexible and able to learn on the job.

Throughout my day at False Creek Elementary, I also met and interviewed a kindergarten teacher named Judith MacPherson. Judith, like Maika, has to be quite organized in her line of work, and also has to be very bright and quite understanding when working with small children all day. Being a teacher means that you have to be a people person, because you are working with a wide array of different student abilities and personalities that all learn at their own pace and have their own learning style. During a regular day on the job, there are some tasks that are to be done regularly like taking attendance, creating your lesson plan, and in doing so, also modeling something, teaching it, then letting the kids try it for themselves. There is an old saying that says at the beginning of the year, you are the sage on the stage, then you move to be the guide on the side. Being a teacher requires you to always be on your feet, grow with what’s happening, and have high standards, but before you can begin your journey as a teacher, there are some specific requirements that you must have, as there is for all jobs. Before Judith could become a teacher at False Creek Elementary, she was required to have a bachelors degree in the educational fields, and it helps that she had had previous experience in teaching before she worked at False Creek. If Judith were to feel the need to take her job to the next step, she could potentially work toward a VP position or eventually even a position as a principal, which would require a masters degree.

This is Judith with one of her students

So far I have talked to teachers and secretaries, but I haven’t touched bases on the one person that made my visit to False Creek possible, my mom (a.k.a the principal). My mother’s job is basically to run the school. This job necessitates that you have not only people skills and organizational skills, but that you also possess leadership, public speaking, Communication, and Diplomacy skills. You need to be the kind of person that can see the whole picture and has an educational vision for the school. A principal always has work. Whenever another teacher, parent, or student has a problem, it’s the principal’s job to do one of two things, either solve the problem or help them solve the problem themselves. Every day there are certain jobs that need to be done, some of which are morning announcements, sending memos to teachers and running various meetings. But these aren’t even the beginning, there are some jobs that aren’t necessarily done daily, but are equally as important. These consist of writing the monthly newsletter, running student leadership programs, talking with parents, running assemblies, keeping track of what kids are to be put in what classes, and hiring new teachers. These jobs are all crucial to maintaining an organized and smooth running school, and it’s all up to the principal to keep it this way. In order to even become a principal, you must have received a masters degree, and go through a highly intense and stressful interview process. Only then can you be placed to work as a principal. If my mother was ever to wanting to climb the metaphorical ladder of the educational profession, the next step would be to become a director of instruction. From their you could become an assistant superintendent, and at the very top you have the superintendent.

This Is me and my mom having a mother daughter selfie

This whole take your kid to work day has made me think more about what I might want to do in the future. At this point in time, I don’t think that I could see myself working in this field, mostly because I’m not overly passionate about it, but that doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t be capable of pursuing a career in this particular area. I actually think I could be a pretty decent secretary, or teacher, or even principal. I feel that I have very strong people skills, and am quite good at problem solving, which are both attributes that would be looked for in something like a principal. I can learn quick and am not easily angered, this is also another skill that I pride myself on, because keeping your calm helps you think straight when it comes down to dealing with things or perhaps that especially get on your nerves. All these skills could be deemed very useful in many situations that anyone working in a school would face all the time in their line of work.