There is a difference between choosing a path and following your proper course. In December of 2002, I earned my Bachelor’s degree in English from ASU. I saw myself working in some office proofreading materials for publication. I didn’t realize how scarce those jobs were. I didn’t think about internships while I was in college. I was in survival mode. Just get through this. Finish school. Then you can get your career started. Surprisingly, there were no jobs. So, to make ends meet, I got a job as a Teacher’s Aide at a CTE school for high school students. Starting as an aide in the Early Childhood program, I worked with students who were behind on their coursework. They couldn’t work with the infants and toddlers in the Head Start
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Once I had a taste of it, that was all I wanted to do. Educators aren’t emergency service workers. We are not often credited with heroism, but we impact lives in a thousand little ways each day. I love knowing that I am making a positive impact on the future, and I don’t see any better way to do that than by teaching. One student told me that I was the reason she passed writing AIMS (a graduation requirement at the time), one told me that I made him love writing. Another told me I saved his life. My career has been all about flexibility, struggle, and revitalization – for me and for my …show more content…
I worked with at-risk teens in a number of different programs – first, a self-contained school for emotionally disabled teens, next a corporate charter working with last-chance kids who had difficulty in a comprehensive school, to an inner-city middle school, then to a district-run credit-recovery program for students who failed too many classes at their home high school. I fought for my at-risk kids, helped them learn despite academic deficiencies, absenteeism, and other life challenges. Maybe one teacher can’t reach everyone, but I can make a difference for the students I can reach. A student once asked why I didn’t have children, I answered, “are you kidding? I have hundreds.” When she responded, “don’t you want to leave something of yourself behind? A little you?” I replied, “Every year, I have about two hundred kids come through my classes. If I reach only five of them, in a five-year career, I’ve made an impact on 25 lives. After ten years, 50… and so on. YOU are my legacy.” In nine years of teaching, I still feel the
Once I had a taste of it, that was all I wanted to do. Educators aren’t emergency service workers. We are not often credited with heroism, but we impact lives in a thousand little ways each day. I love knowing that I am making a positive impact on the future, and I don’t see any better way to do that than by teaching. One student told me that I was the reason she passed writing AIMS (a graduation requirement at the time), one told me that I made him love writing. Another told me I saved his life. My career has been all about flexibility, struggle, and revitalization – for me and for my …show more content…
I worked with at-risk teens in a number of different programs – first, a self-contained school for emotionally disabled teens, next a corporate charter working with last-chance kids who had difficulty in a comprehensive school, to an inner-city middle school, then to a district-run credit-recovery program for students who failed too many classes at their home high school. I fought for my at-risk kids, helped them learn despite academic deficiencies, absenteeism, and other life challenges. Maybe one teacher can’t reach everyone, but I can make a difference for the students I can reach. A student once asked why I didn’t have children, I answered, “are you kidding? I have hundreds.” When she responded, “don’t you want to leave something of yourself behind? A little you?” I replied, “Every year, I have about two hundred kids come through my classes. If I reach only five of them, in a five-year career, I’ve made an impact on 25 lives. After ten years, 50… and so on. YOU are my legacy.” In nine years of teaching, I still feel the