how I got here.

I decided to become a teacher because of my mom and also because of my high school English teachers. My mom has worked as a teacher and school social worker in a variety of settings over the course of her career. When I was little, she would get Christmas cards from former students thanking her for benefiting and sometimes saving their lives. I couldn't figure out exactly what this meant at the time, but I knew that other adults didn't get the same kinds of Christmas cards that my mom did.

I remember two of my high school English teachers very clearly: Ms. Noe and Mr. Burke. Ms. Noe taught my freshman Humanities class. She was hilarious in the classroom using voices to tell stories to high school students. What I remember the most was that in discussion of whatever we had been reading, she would ask questions of us that exploded in my mind. She pushed the boundaries of my freshman mind into analysis and critical thinking. I marveled at her ability to come up with questions like that.

Mr. Burke taught A.P. English which I took during my senior year. Most of his students loved him thinking he was straight out of Dead Poets Society, but we quickly figured out that he was just totally crazy. It took me a little while longer to figure out that he was totally crazy in a good way. Mr. Burke's assignments were so challenging that I often didn't try very hard so that I wouldn't have to face failure. Over the course of the year, he challenged me to work hard so that he could help me become a better reader, writer, and thinker. I came around and he did as promised. I was surprised to find that in my first college English class, I was way ahead of many of my peers when it came to writing. I emailed Mr. Burke to thank him.

When I started teaching, I had a lot of ideas of how to "do it right". These were met with frustration and failure. I now know that the only way for me to be effective as a teacher is to be myself in my classroom. I am, however, always mindful of the people who inspired me to do this job. Every day, I try to show compassion for people at challenging times as my mom did , ask mind-blowing questions like Ms. Noe, and challenge my students to be more than they ever thought they could be like Mr. Burke did for me.