A Teacher’s Quest: Military spouse embraces challenges of professional career

Making a career out of teaching as a military spouse is not always the easiest of feats to achieve. But Rebecca Healy, a military spouse of three years, has learned to embrace life as an occasional teacher by blogging about her unique experiences and positive outlook.

Healy grew up in a family full of educators and was inspired from a young age by the impact they made in the life of their students; and so, decided to pursue a career in teaching.

When Healy first began her career as an educator, she decided to capture all the unique and exciting teaching methods and techniques she came across.

“I just realized every teacher brings something unique to their classroom and I wanted to be able to remember all the great ideas I was seeing for when I have my own classroom one day,” recalled Healy.

But after meeting her soon-to-be-husband, an aerospace engineer in the Royal Canadian Air Force, three years ago, Healy knew she’d have to rethink her outlook on a traditional teaching career.

“I had to come to terms with the fact that as a military spouse I would be moving around and I get to be in a lot of different classes, which is amazing, so why not do something with that,” said Healy.

After working with four different school boards, Healy had gathered quite the collection of teaching ideas in her iPhotos, and she decided last year to put them to use by creating an education blog.

“The focus I wanted for my website was to share all of these amazing experiences I’ve had so far as an occasional teacher,” noted Healy.

In her blog, entitled “A Teacher’s Quest,” Healy brings a new voice to the blogging community on life as a teacher and a military spouse. She writes posts on the tricks and trades she’s picked up over the years, any new technology or teaching resources and information on professional development courses in the education arena.

“I felt that I could really add a new voice. I really wanted to share a positive spin on being a military spouse and a teacher because I feel there are a lot of teachers who have to move around and don’t have a very positive spin on it, because you do have to start over everytime you make a move,” explained Healy.

Her overall aim is to give back to the military community that has given her so much support by becoming a go-to resource for other teachers in the military community.

Because of her experiences, Healy advises other military spouse educators to embrace the positive side of life as an occasional teacher.

“Just try to stay as positive as possible. Really embrace everything you are coming across by being a teacher that has to move around. You’re getting to see different school boards, different systems, how different teachers run their classrooms across the country and that’s something that a lot of teachers don’t get to experience,” commented Healy.

Knowing that it could take years before she can get her own classroom, has forced Healy out of her comfort zone and the result has been unforgettable.

“I’ve met so many amazing contacts and so many amazing students. The jobs I’ve had, while they’re short term, I still feel like I can really make an impact on my students and that’s why we became teachers, really,” said Healy.

To check out Rebecca Healy’s blog “A Teacher’s Quest” click here.