Mark Boatman

Journal – Work History

Throughout my life I have held many different jobs that run the gamete of experiences, and even dove into a career as an Archaeologist for several years. Although some job experiences I’ve had have been more worthwhile and fruitful than others, all of my job history has played a vital role in my development as a professional and human being.

The first job I had was as a paperboy for the Tri-City Herald, which was a great job to have when I was young because I was finished everyday before school even started. It taught me at a young age that to work sometimes you must make sacrifices, such as getting up before all of your peers, as I certainly had to do with that job. When I was in high school, I worked at a clothing store, called Zumiez, which allowed me to make a little bit of spending money, and partake in the skateboarding culture in which I was already invested. Throughout college I held a few other clothing retail jobs for various companies, such as American Eagle and Hollister. These jobs were not ideal, but as a college student struggling to financially contribute in any way possible, I realized that sometimes any job is better than no job.

Throughout my college career at the University of Idaho I did not work during the school year because I wanted to focus on academic achievement. After obtaining a degree in Anthropology, I moved to the Treasure Valley, where I began the search for a career in Archaeology. Unfortunately because of the economic recession, no Cultural Resource firms were hiring in Idaho, and so I moved to Salt Lake City to work for SWCA Environmental Consultants with my brother and sister-in-law as an Archaeologist. After a year in Utah, I finally found work in Boise as an Archaeologist for the Bureau of Land Management. In both of the above jobs I had to travel to various areas, and perform cultural survey (hiking), analyze and record cultural sites, translate findings to site forms, photograph various items, take gps positions on sites and artifacts, and catalogue findings. There were also various office responsibilities such as, site form entry, database management, artifact curation, etc. I also got the opportunity to prove my self as a crew chief for two years with the BLM, managing a field crew of 5 people.

All of these past work experiences are beneficial to my pursuit as an educator. A lesson I took away from having a paper route was that time is money, not to sound too cliché. In order to succeed and make money I had to get up earlier than most people, which was hard on some days, but it in order to keep the job and ensure everyone on my block got a paper, it had to be done. The clothing store jobs taught me that I couldn’t fail as a student, and needed to pursue a higher education because I couldn’t imagine barely scraping by working that kind of job for the rest of my life. Those jobs enhanced my view of the importance of education. My professional career as an Archaeologist taught me many things. I learned that being able to work as a collective unit, maintaining personal responsibility, while being able to conduct the group to accomplish a common goal. Other skills that are applicable to a career in teaching that I took away from my previous career, is that being organized cuts down on stress when trying to attain a goal.

Successful teachers have told me that a well-ordered, organized classroom and lesson, allow more time to focus on effective instruction and other responsibilities.