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In Spite of . . .

I’m presently reading Living a Life You Love and The Courage to Teach; the latter is a classic given to me by my mentor when I accepted my first full-time university position.

Some 20 years later, but this time teaching in a secondary setting, I’ve chosen to re-read the book.

Perfect timing and a perfect duo-read. I had no idea that the two books would speak so profoundly and serve as confirmation.

While there are many choosing to leave education, . . .

While COVID-19 and its ramifications are continually calling us to rethink, reconsider, reimagine, . . .

While I have a spring high school teaching schedule that includes two six-week English 1301 courses, two eight-week English 1302 courses, two 15-week English 1302 courses, two high school Literary Genre elective courses, and a cross-listed high school independent study course, . . .

While I’m teaching predominately via Zoom and I love the relationship building, . . .

While I’ve recently fulfilled the 6th request to proctor one of the many tests administered this semester, . . .

I love education; I love the newness that yields itself when I take on a new educational arena, and I most assuredly love what my teaching brings out in my students and their instructor.

Living a Life You Love and The Courage to Teach–two titles, two authors, but the same theme, at least for me.

By Avis Winifred Rupert, Ph.D.

Dr. Rupert has a 20-year teaching/leadership track-record in education. She is a native of Texas but has relocated to the East Coast where she is the Associate Dean of Arts & Humanities at Bristol Community College. Her background includes both teaching and administrative positions in the university and community college, international contexts, and secondary and dual credit experience in both the rural and urban high school setting. Rupert has traveled to 21 countries to-date, partnered with populations from diverse ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic backgrounds; and achieved an 8-year management career complemented by four levels of management with the largest retailer in the world. Dr. Rupert’s education is complementary to her professional and personal growth and interests. She has a BBA in Business Administration with a minor in Marketing, an MA in Composition Studies, an MA in Organizational Management with an International Focus, a PhD in Rhetoric and Writing, and she is presently working on an MA in Biblical Studies and Theology. Rupert’s profile gives her a unique way of at looking at opportunities in education and beyond that often escape others. She contributes her success to self-awareness, an unparalleled drive to grow and develop in varying ways, and a tenacity for leadership. Finally, her dissertation which required the exploration of ethnography requires mention, for it too has added to her unique perspectives and accomplishments.

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