Autobiography
Education doesn't need to be reformed - it needs to be transformed.The key is not to standardize education but to personalize it, to build achievement on discovering the individual talents of each child, to put students in an environment where they want to learn and where they can naturally discover their true passions.
~ Ken Robinson
In my life there have been many dreams of what I wanted to be when I grew up. Among the top were singer, actress, and dancer (famous for all three, of course – a triple threat). As those dreams quickly died after high school, when the real world set in, I developed new dreams and aspirations. The one that seemingly grew from nowhere was becoming a teacher. In the back of my younger mind, teaching always seemed appealing, but for all the ridiculous reasons: writing on the blackboard, wearing “teacher clothing,” reading children’s literature all the time, and grading papers with red checkmarks. Over time, the deeper reasons started becoming more appealing.
I am the youngest of three children. I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but spent the majority of my younger years and school career in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. It was here that my fondest memories of school and learning were formed. After my freshman year of high school, my family moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, where I finished out my high school career, met my husband, and had our first child. Shortly thereafter, we moved to Rochester, Minnesota and have lived here since 2003. We have three children: one son and two daughters.
It is no surprise to learn that I grew up in a very arts-inspired home, given my childhood dreams of becoming a singer, actress, and dancer. My parents strongly supported our creative interests, resulting in each of us becoming skillful in various artistic avenues. While I still have a deep passion for music, I found myself to be good at more hands-on art, such as refinishing furniture, decorating, free-hand typography, and makeup. These interests have led to my side works as a makeup artist and furniture refinisher. They are creative outlets for me and, although sometimes labor intensive, are even therapeutic.
Much of what has inspired me to become a teacher developed from my time volunteering with the children’s area at my church. Several years ago, I began volunteering in my son’s second grade room on a more regular basis. As he moved up the grade levels, I moved with him and established safe and meaningful relationships with him and his classmates. It was such a joy to watch these children grow up and mature in their thinking and responses. The reciprocated excitement to spend time together in class made the teaching spark inside me intensify even more. I was motivated by this rapport and level of trust that I had established with them to be present each week and help them on their life journeys. Soon, just an hour per week of mentoring and teaching them became insufficient for me and I realized that I truly wanted to teach young minds and help positively inspire and influence them on a more fulltime basis. During this time, a good friend of mine, who happens to be a teacher, kept suggesting that I consider teaching. At first, I just considered it to appease her, but it was not long before I was doing more than just entertaining the thought. I was already enrolled in college courses, and, in no time, I went from an undeclared major to an elementary education major.
As a former public school student and as a parent of children in the public schools, it has been heartbreaking to watch arts education slowly disappear out of the schools and regarded as insignificant – second to the tested subjects of math, science, and reading. As a kinesthetic learner and creative thinker, areas of math and science did not come easy for me and I did not feel confident in my abilities within those subjects. Despite efforts to push back and advocate for arts education to be a strong presence once again within the public education system, very small gains, if any, have been made.
Meeting these young learners where they are, in the methods that work best for them to grow academically, and tailoring my instruction to help them while still teaching that which the state requires, has been my biggest motivation to become a teacher. I want to incorporate arts education within my classroom in various approaches to help build up the students who may need it. During one of my college courses, I looked into the importance of the arts to the overall academic growth of students. I found studies providing significant evidence that showed greater exposure to the arts helped all students to excel in other areas of learning, including math and science. If students realize their strengths lie in an area of arts education, they will find self-esteem in their accomplishments, resulting in greater overall motivation to do well in other areas of study (Jerome Kagan, Ph.D.).
While my influence will be minimal compared to what these students need long term, I hope to at least provide a stepping stone for their learning. Perhaps, they will take away from my class the skills that help them comprehend the content more effectively and be able to incorporate them later in other classes, as well. My dream now is to someday create a curriculum that provides a more well-rounded education for these students - a way around the roadblocks put in our path as educators - while still complying with and meeting the goals and standards we are given. I hope to inspire these students to do their best, even in subjects that prove challenging. Through my clinical and student teaching placements, I have come to realize that this will be no easy feat. The interests, struggles, and levels of commitment to learning vary all across the board.
In my previous placements, I have learned the value of getting to know the students, their interests, and the challenges they face in order to better instruct to those needs. I also have come to see the importance of classroom community. Students need to feel connected to others and safe to make mistakes freely without judgment and discrimination to truly be able to grow and learn. Along with meeting the various types of learning styles, I also feel that it is necessary to meet the level of skill with differentiated instruction and activities. I saw this vividly in my six week placement as those who were high achieving were seemingly bored with the activities and coming to the teacher or myself with the desire to try something more challenging. It was great to observe them work through the more difficult activity and see their confidence continue to grow. I look forward to implementing the things I’ve already learned from all of my placements and experience in the education program in my teaching career.
I am the youngest of three children. I was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but spent the majority of my younger years and school career in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. It was here that my fondest memories of school and learning were formed. After my freshman year of high school, my family moved to Raleigh, North Carolina, where I finished out my high school career, met my husband, and had our first child. Shortly thereafter, we moved to Rochester, Minnesota and have lived here since 2003. We have three children: one son and two daughters.
It is no surprise to learn that I grew up in a very arts-inspired home, given my childhood dreams of becoming a singer, actress, and dancer. My parents strongly supported our creative interests, resulting in each of us becoming skillful in various artistic avenues. While I still have a deep passion for music, I found myself to be good at more hands-on art, such as refinishing furniture, decorating, free-hand typography, and makeup. These interests have led to my side works as a makeup artist and furniture refinisher. They are creative outlets for me and, although sometimes labor intensive, are even therapeutic.
Much of what has inspired me to become a teacher developed from my time volunteering with the children’s area at my church. Several years ago, I began volunteering in my son’s second grade room on a more regular basis. As he moved up the grade levels, I moved with him and established safe and meaningful relationships with him and his classmates. It was such a joy to watch these children grow up and mature in their thinking and responses. The reciprocated excitement to spend time together in class made the teaching spark inside me intensify even more. I was motivated by this rapport and level of trust that I had established with them to be present each week and help them on their life journeys. Soon, just an hour per week of mentoring and teaching them became insufficient for me and I realized that I truly wanted to teach young minds and help positively inspire and influence them on a more fulltime basis. During this time, a good friend of mine, who happens to be a teacher, kept suggesting that I consider teaching. At first, I just considered it to appease her, but it was not long before I was doing more than just entertaining the thought. I was already enrolled in college courses, and, in no time, I went from an undeclared major to an elementary education major.
As a former public school student and as a parent of children in the public schools, it has been heartbreaking to watch arts education slowly disappear out of the schools and regarded as insignificant – second to the tested subjects of math, science, and reading. As a kinesthetic learner and creative thinker, areas of math and science did not come easy for me and I did not feel confident in my abilities within those subjects. Despite efforts to push back and advocate for arts education to be a strong presence once again within the public education system, very small gains, if any, have been made.
Meeting these young learners where they are, in the methods that work best for them to grow academically, and tailoring my instruction to help them while still teaching that which the state requires, has been my biggest motivation to become a teacher. I want to incorporate arts education within my classroom in various approaches to help build up the students who may need it. During one of my college courses, I looked into the importance of the arts to the overall academic growth of students. I found studies providing significant evidence that showed greater exposure to the arts helped all students to excel in other areas of learning, including math and science. If students realize their strengths lie in an area of arts education, they will find self-esteem in their accomplishments, resulting in greater overall motivation to do well in other areas of study (Jerome Kagan, Ph.D.).
While my influence will be minimal compared to what these students need long term, I hope to at least provide a stepping stone for their learning. Perhaps, they will take away from my class the skills that help them comprehend the content more effectively and be able to incorporate them later in other classes, as well. My dream now is to someday create a curriculum that provides a more well-rounded education for these students - a way around the roadblocks put in our path as educators - while still complying with and meeting the goals and standards we are given. I hope to inspire these students to do their best, even in subjects that prove challenging. Through my clinical and student teaching placements, I have come to realize that this will be no easy feat. The interests, struggles, and levels of commitment to learning vary all across the board.
In my previous placements, I have learned the value of getting to know the students, their interests, and the challenges they face in order to better instruct to those needs. I also have come to see the importance of classroom community. Students need to feel connected to others and safe to make mistakes freely without judgment and discrimination to truly be able to grow and learn. Along with meeting the various types of learning styles, I also feel that it is necessary to meet the level of skill with differentiated instruction and activities. I saw this vividly in my six week placement as those who were high achieving were seemingly bored with the activities and coming to the teacher or myself with the desire to try something more challenging. It was great to observe them work through the more difficult activity and see their confidence continue to grow. I look forward to implementing the things I’ve already learned from all of my placements and experience in the education program in my teaching career.