When I was 7 years old, in second grade, I had the best
teacher. She inspired me to want to be
a teacher when I grew up. After years
of babysitting, working in a before and after school program and summer camps,
and being a nanny for a few summers, I graduated and got a job as a
kindergarten teacher. In 2002 My dream
had come true. Through my years of
working with kids from ages 3-17, I decided early childhood was where my heard
was and I was now going to teach 5 year olds.
I spent only one year at my first school before being
involuntary transferred. I interviewed at the job fair and went to another
school where I would teach for the next nine years. I had completed part of my student teaching at Ronald McNair
Elementary and was now going to be teaching there with my mentor. Three years later, my mentor decided to move
on to another school after 16 years at McNair.
So I decided that I too needed a change and requested to move up to
first grade where I would spend the next six years.
Over the course of those six years, the first grade team
changed a few times. We acquired
teachers new to our school and teachers that moved down to first grade from
other grade levels. A new special
education teacher came on board and I was so lucky to get to work with her for
two years. Our students made such great
gains and it was because of her and our collaboration with each other and our
paraeducators.
In April of this year I had my second child, a little sister
for our big boy. Another dream of mine
was about to come true. Not only had I
always aspired to be a teacher, but also a mom. Now, I was already a mom, but I wanted nothing more than to stay
home with my kids. And now that dream
has become a reality. Today, I packed
up my classroom at McNair, which has been my home away from home for 10 months
out of the year for the past nine years.
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| My empty room. |
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| My reasons for leaving. |
