My personal path which has led me to becoming a certified teacher is anything but conventional. I have adorned numerous hats throughout my life. I have been a student; a business owner; a wife; a mother and most recently a substitute teacher. Throughout the various stages of my life thus far, one very prominent aspect has always been present. I have this overwhelming innate desire for learning and helping others. My educational path has been bombarded with numerous obstacles and road blocks over the past two decades. Through perseverance, and pure stubbornness, I completed my bachelor’s degree in December of 2014. It wasn’t in a specific specialty field of my dreams. In fact, it was a B.S. in General Studies. This degree allowed three minors of Business, Sociology and Family and Consumer Science. This degree, although labeled “General”, was anything but that. This accomplishment was spectacular, and above all, it was all mine. Soon after graduating, I quickly became overwhelmed with the repeated question of, “What are you going to do now?” “Hmm…let’s see. I don’t really know yet.” This would also be my repeated response. It became fairly obvious that to find a job worth my efforts; this would involve a rather long commute from my home. My husband is a chicken farmer, and with this comes a seven day a week commitment. My only child is in seventh grade, and is heavily involved in school and extracurricular activities. The logical solution was to somehow attain a
When I first decided to expand my education, it had been so long since I had been to school, and I was very hesitant. I talked at length about my decision with my husband and with his encouragement, decided to enroll but still was not quite sure which degree program to enroll in. I knew that this was something that I had always wanted to do since I obtained my Associates Degree in Nursing, but I did not have the courage, nor did I want to give up the time with my family and children. I second guessed my abilities and my knowledge because it had been so long since I had been in college. Now that my children are about to graduate high school and
During my last thirty years of my working life, I have only spent the last nine in education. I spent most of this time working in the oil field, traveling and living life as a “company man”. It was a divorce that shined a light on the possibilities of a career in education. I was now a single father with a three-year old little girl. I could no longer dedicate myself to call hours, weekend commitments, and travel demands of the oil industry. I took my first teaching job working in a private Christian school in Katy, Texas. There I developed and taught a new Computer Literature curriculum. With a bachelor of science degree in Information Technology and Networking Management I attend an alternative certification program to teach in the public sector. I took my first public teaching job at an alternative school call Compass, teaching eighth grade math. To say that I went into education heads first with this school is an understatement. Compass is a transition school for kids either coming from or the last chance before a child detention center. I was able to interact with many students having ADHD and/or behavior problems. There were times when my entire class had a BIP, IEP or both. The processes,
In early 2006 I was knocked off track. My little brother was killed in a car accident at the age of 17. My world went pretty dark for a while, and I dropped out of college and left my jobs. After a few months of deep grieving, I got on my feet and got a job making more money as a receptionist for a window company. I pushed my passion to the back of my brain and put the money first. I was all determined to have a “grown up job” and be on my own. This meant I couldn’t afford classes, or books. I also had to have a full time day job to afford my rent. Teaching went to the back burner for several years. I was offered higher positions at my job, and pretty soon found myself sitting in the office behind the desk from which I myself was hired. I hated it. I could sit on the computer all day long and do nothing. Most people would’ve loved my job. But I could not handle
I continued teaching for two more years until my daughter was born. During that time, I was voted for three years in a row as "Students ' favorite teacher." However, I grudgingly left teaching to be able financially to support my growing family. I started an environmental consulting business with my wife who is a biochemical engineer and was working as an environmental consultant for a firm in Orange County. For the next eighteen years, I developed and managed a successful company called Ecotek. Though, teaching was always on my mind and the part that I enjoyed the most about Ecotek was the environmental training and the presentations that I did for my clients. My three children are in college now, but four years ago I started hearing that inner voice telling me to follow my bliss. I knew that I wanted to go back to teaching, so I took several assignments as a substitute teacher to see if I have what it takes to be a good teacher. I found out quickly that I want to teach and that I enjoy it, school administrators offered me several long term substitute positions and soon enough, within a year, I left the business to my wife and started teaching biology full time at Lynwood Unified School District. It has been four happy years since I returned to the teaching profession. As a biology teacher at Firebaugh High School, I feel that
Twenty-six years ago. I began the quest to find the perfect college. As I drove down the driveway of Bay Path College, I knew this was the college I was going to attend. I was drawn to the rural setting, the beautiful campus and the small academic community. My intent for life after high school was to get my associates degree, earn some money, then begin working toward my bachelor degree. In retrospect, I did not possess the confidence or drive needed to be a good student. I struggled for the next couple of years to earn my Associates degree, however was apprehensive to commit to the time or expense it would take to continue my education. After a very long break in schooling, I now approach education with a new mindset and ready to commit
Coming back to school after being away for 17 years has been one of the most emotionally taxing endeavors I've experienced. My career experience was working in the quality control field. Being apart of the industry was very satisfying until the point in which the 2008 recession hit. Having to go through the uncertainty of being laid off and the frustration of trying to reenter the work force with only a high school diploma brought into focus that I needed to finish the bachelor degree I had started. While attempting to find gainful employment I took the opportunity to begin the process of transferring to a school here in California. I had originally started my degree in Lincoln, Nebraska, but moved out to California with my significant other.
I contemplated taking a semester off to have my child and reprioritize my life. However, after speaking my faculty mentor, I received the encouragement I needed to pushed forward and complete my degree. Sadly, I made the ultimate decision to postpone my journey to medical school to care for my family. After graduation, I decided to join the workforce to support my family. As a recent college graduate, I experienced difficulties obtaining employment and this was very discouraging, especially since I was caring for two young individuals. Eventually, I obtained a full-time position at a local community college and have been there for about six years educating minds to achieve their educational
Francis Xavier University has been the school of my dreams. I’d spend nights looking up videos of the university and everything it had to offer. Of course once it was my time to apply for the school, I was the first of my 2016 graduating class to send off a transcript. This sudden rush to get into the school of my dreams changed my outlook on life in a dramatic way. From a young age, I was pushed by not only my parents but peers and teachers as well that in order to be successful I was to go into a science program and make use of it. This was my plan for awhile, to take the challenge and become a Doctor or a high paid Dentist, a job that I was interested in. The word here is ‘interested’, I wasn't passionate to learn for it. As the first few weeks of Graduating year came to an end, I found myself miserable with the decision to apply for a Science degree because it wasn't something I loved. This was something my family members loved and wanted me to pursue because they thought it would be the best option for me. Through this difficult process I made the bold decision to apply for the Arts program instead which will successfully lead me into the Education program as well. Teaching is something that I’ve always had such a passion for and is a job that I get butterflies just thinking about. Teachers are under appreciated and deserve as much credit as they can get and for me that is something I want to change during my journey to proceed my dream job. This experience has taught me that the only person who can write my future is myself, I can't let others influence my personal decisions. Although many people including family members disagreed with my decision and to this day still hold a grudge about it, I’m happy about my choices and my happiness is my key to
Being bright and with a strong work ethic, I advanced quickly in my work life. Exposing myself to various office skills enticed me to go back and take the GED Exam, which I passed easily. Afterward, I took every opportunity to learn that I could afford. Sometimes these were lunchbox learning courses taught at my local community organization, and other times they were professional development opportunities. Combined with my work ethic and determination, upward mobility in my job was turning into long term development and an actual career in the field of Human Resources. I was successful in making it to the management level without college courses to lean on. In the late 1990’s, I dedicated my life to Christ, and married a magnificent man in 2000. After having our two children, I realized that I was modeling many aspects of the life I wanted to teach my children, with the exception of my formal education. I took college courses here and there when finances allowed, and in 2005, I obtained the coveted PHR Certification from the Human Resources Certification
I am the first in my family to go to college. i am a middle child of five other children. two older sisters, an older brother and both a younger brother and a sister. growing up school wasnt always important to me. as i got older and had already really struggled through my first two years of high school i relized i was just being lazy and i knew i needed to pull myself together and focus on things that were really important and crucial for my future. junior and senior year i worked hard and brought my grades and GPA back up. throughout the prosses of refocussing myself i relized i had a love for helping people. i decided that i wanted to teach but wasnt sure what exactly i wanted to teach. i started volunteering a large amount
Growing up in a country where educational preferences were given to boys, my father went against the society norms and encouraged me to get higher education. Along with his guidance and my thirst for knowledge I was accepted in engineering program. I was happily pursuing my degree, when suddenly all this came to halt; my father was seriously ill. He wanted me to get married before he leaves this world. Few weeks later, I met my husband, who at the time was visiting Pakistan for his cousin’s wedding and within months I was married. I came to United States with a hope of better future and dreams of finishing my education, but was unable to do so as I was expecting our first child and had no one to help us with the baby. I dedicated myself to raise our daughter, but deep down that feeling of emptiness lingered. Life kept moving forward, we moved a few times, gradually I started to adapt to being a stay home mother of two beautiful girls. Numerous times I brought home admission forms from CCBC but started to doubt myself if I was going to be able to do restart after such a big gap? I started volunteering at my daughter’s school and was soon hired as a teacher’s helper to assist with children with special needs. While working at school, I was again in an environment that reminded and encouraged me to fulfill my lost dreams. In 2012, I enrolled at CCBC with no career path in mind: I just wanted start again! Once I started I never looked back and I will continue to thrive.
School is a major part of our young lives. It is where we spend the majority of our time as youngsters. Children begin to develop relationships with people who have not been apart of their infancy. For someone who does not enjoy school, this could put a damper on their relationships with others as well as their learning achievements in life. This is why I want to become a teacher. I want to develop a learning atmosphere where children feel joy and security.
Ideally, when I graduate, I would like to enter the credential program at Cal Poly Pomona. As an English Education major, I feel like this is the next logical step for me as I seek to move forward on my path of becoming a teacher. The opportunities that await me in the credential program truly excite me because I have always found my studies of English Education to be very rewarding and purposeful. I have found this to be especially true now because I am currently in the process of conducting observation hours at local high schools in Pomona as part of my English Education curriculum. When I am in the classroom, I immediately feel a sense of joy, purpose, and productivity. Outside of the classroom, I do have experience teaching as a leader for a club on campus; I am a Woman’s Bible Study Leader for Cal Poly Cru and I have found this experience of teaching college students to be the most exciting, challenging, and rewarding experience I have ever had the pleasure of being a part of. It can become overwhelming as doubts and deadlines tend to sneak in on me from time to time, but I know that being a teacher is worth every ounce of pressure because of the positive impact that a teacher has the ability to make on a student. There is an incredible statistic that states that “On average a teacher affects 3,000 children over the course of their career” (Bickley). This opportunity stirs my heart like nothing else because when I was in high school, I had an incredible teacher named
I grew up on a small farm in a small town. My parents are both educators at the school I grew up in. To my surprise my parents were not thrilled when I told them I had a passion for education. Their first words to me were, “are you sure,” “don’t you think you are wasting your intelligence,” and “you’re not going to make very much money.” This was discouraging coming from the two people I thought I would look up to going into my future career. I was at a loss for some time, until I sat down with my grandfather one day after church. He asked me if I had decided what I wanted to do after college. To this I replied, I want to be a teacher. Expecting the same response as my
As a very small child I don’t remember too much, but the things that I do remember were seen through a child’s eyes that has made me the person that I am today and I will always have those memory’s with me until my last breath on this earth. In this essay I intend to show how my childhood and adult life to this point has influenced my life, my journey. By utilizing the adult development theories from this class I also intend on showing how they relate to my Life experiences and where I am today as an Adult student.