Ymca Interview Questions

Improved Essays
Question 1: Tell me about yourself. My mother and both grandmothers were teachers. I have two aunts in teaching and one who recently received her doctorate in educational psychology. To say it runs in the family would be an understatement. My father was rarely around growing up because of his multiple jobs. The only time we had together was during Boy Scout activities. He is a bullheaded man with the best work ethic I have ever seen.
You could use my childhood as a case study. I was not an easy child to work with. My mother often jokes that I hit the “terrible-twos” and failed to grow out of it until I was twenty. If it were not for my incredibly patient parents, I would have landed on the school-to-prison pipeline early in life.
I spend
…show more content…
I discovered my desire to work with children when I started working with the Scouts, YMCA, and a youth treatment center.
I knew that I wanted to become a teacher one day while working at the YMCA. I had a coworker ask me, “Josh, what is your secret.” She would go on to ask how I was able to keep several of the older, more rambunctious children on task and out of trouble. At the time, I did not know the answer, and just thought it was some sort of innate gift. I would learn the answer to her question a few years later. During a professional development seminar for working with troubled youth, I discovered a foundational tenant of youth care that I had somehow picked up years prior. “If you want a child to be well behaved, you have to make them feel safe and to feel in control.” This cascaded into a period of reflection of the very few teachers I had growing up that whose classes I enjoyed. All of them shared the same theme. I always felt safe and welcome in their class. I decided then that education was probably the path for me. The reason I want to be a teacher is that I see the same traits in myself that made me love the classrooms of the very few teachers whose classrooms I

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    I knew from a young age that teaching was what I was meant to do. Shadowing a teacher for a day in eight grade cemented for me that I was going to be a teacher. While the age of the student I was wanting to teach has changed as I've gotten older that drive to teach has never left. Working as an Educational Assistant at St. Louis Community College has only poured gasoline on that fire and passion for teaching. I can no longer put off pursuing my education to become a mathematics professor.…

    • 643 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    I decided when I was in the 6th grade that I wanted to go into the teaching profession. While I do not remember the name of the teacher that inspired my decision, I remember her face and how much she made me enjoy Social Studies. I originally wanted to teach math, but 10th grade math changed my mind and I settled into the English curriculum. College showed me just how much my teachers had hidden the immense amount of work that goes into teaching and I had many panic attacks about the workload.…

    • 642 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I have wanted to teach school since middle school just like my mom. I decided that I wanted to do Early Childhood and Special Education as my major. It truly hit me towards the end of middle school and the beginning of high school. I knew that special education was something I was going to do because of something in my heart that told me to pursue it. After high school I started at Grand Canyon University then transferred to Middle Georgia.…

    • 750 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I have always known I wanted to become a teacher. When I was in school, if I understood the lesson the teacher was presenting, I would help my fellow classmates. It made me happy that I got to instruct them and made a difference. In high school, I was selected to participate in an elective called IPIE (Instructional Practice in Education.) I went over to the nearby elementary school, and assisted the teacher.…

    • 643 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    As far back as I can remember, I've struggled to discover my one true passion. Growing up, I was surrounded by people who knew what their purpose was: my mother with her teaching, my father with his art, my grandmother with her altruism. Not knowing my aim only motivated me to find it, and from a young age, I've explored everything. I've contemplated careers from toxicology to novelist, park ranger to senator. Due to some phenomenal teachers and continuous self exploration, during my high school years I have finally discovered my niche- learning.…

    • 376 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    I honestly never thought I would become a teacher; it was never my dream job. I wanted to be a lawyer and in politics. As I went through college my classes focused on the law, and the legal field. I wanted to be as far away from the country and farm lands that had I grew up in. I put myself through college by working in Loss Prevention and Upper Level Management in retail, and then became a CLA.…

    • 226 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In working with children from early on, I found that I relate very well with them and understand them. I am patient, yet firm. I found I do not get frustrated when a child is struggling: academically, socially, or emotionally, nor do I give in and let them do as they want. I help them follow through. I started babysitting when I was twelve and continued on throughout the years.…

    • 677 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself,” said John Dewey. I have lived my entire life according this principle – as a student and as a teacher. I believe that experiences changes us, and I seek extraordinary opportunities. As a student, my favorite educational explorations include Junior Statesmen of America Summer School at Georgetown, British Studies at Oxford, Space Orientation for Educators, and GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) Training. As a teacher, my experiences are equally varied.…

    • 739 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Growing up I was always driven to help others and to lead them. In all the sports that I played, I was the one that helped and encouraged the other players. That same concept of helping others applied to my schoolwork as well. I loved working with other students, and formed study groups to help pass college courses. Through high school I lifeguarded and was given the opportunity to also teach swim lessons to children.…

    • 351 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It was the beginning of junior year. Frantically, I was doing research upon research to try and discover what it was I wanted to go to college for. “What is my purpose on this earth?” I thought to myself. This was a question that haunted me for months.…

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    I have known since I was younger that I wanted to help children in some way. I began my degree in Psychology while serving in the United States Navy. While in the Navy, I realized I had a passion for not only leading, but educating. I thrived during the times I could give lectures, presentations, and present new content to my division. Once I left the Navy, I realized that teaching older children, middle school and high school ages, was something I wanted to seriously consider.…

    • 307 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As an adult I look back on my childhood and instantly I am able to recognize my inner teacher. I was never the kid to answer, “I am going to be a teacher” when someone asked what I wanted to be when I grew up. But I was the kid that baked in the kitchen with my grandmother and acted out my own show on the Food Network. If you have ever watched the Food Network, then you know that those celebrity chefs are teaching their audiences how to cook. The aspect that appealed to me was not the cooking, but the teaching.…

    • 824 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As an educator I feel that after further skill development and education I will have what it takes. I feel that being an educator suits me. I have changed what I planned on going to school for. I was going to go for elementary education, no I plan to get an education and find a career in a special education early childhood classroom. Education is defiantly the profession I’m going to pursue.…

    • 758 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    According to my mother, I was six years old the first time I told her what I wanted to do with my life. “I want to be a teacher when I grow up!” I said to her, and I’ve been saying it ever since. I had a brief flirtation with marine biology in sixth grade, and with psychology in tenth, but in my heart I’ve always remained faithful to my one true passion: teaching. When my high school guidance counselors began asking about my career goals, teacher was always the answer I gave them, because despite fluctuating interests throughout my childhood, I could never really see myself doing anything else.…

    • 766 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Throughout my student career, I had many ideas of what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wanted to be a fashion designer, interior designer, professional singer, a business owner, and an entrepreneur just to name a few. I always came back to one profession though. I wanted to be a teacher. Each year in elementary school, I always wanted to teach the grad I had just completed due to the amazing year I had before.…

    • 787 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays