Personal Statement: An Elementary School Career

I would like to pursue a career in Elementary Education focusing on Kindergarten through second grade. I am going to be the first of my family to achieve a higher level of education after high school. I feel that being born and raised in Mountain Grove has given me values that I want to hold on to for the rest of my life. I have been a nurturing person for as long as I can remember and have strived to be a person that my younger sibling and cousins can look up to in life. I want to be an elementary teacher for many of the following reasons.

Brad Henry claims that “A good teacher can inspire hope, ignite the imagination, and instill a love of learning.” Teaching is something that I see as one of the most important jobs that you can have. Along with it being important, it is also rewarding and you’re helping people learn and take in information that will come in handy in the future. With my creative mind and kind-heart, majoring in Early Childhood Education and pursuing a career as a teacher will be enjoyable and is the perfect fit for me.

In elementary school whilst my peers were playing dress up and feeding tea to their stuffed animals, my imaginary play entailed lining up all my animals in neatly constructed rows so that they would be prepared for my class. Although the teacher-student play was natural and fun, it was not evident to me at that time that I was destined to become a teacher.

Choosing a career is not an easy task. As a child, I never knew what I eventually wanted to grow up to be, but in the back of my mind I would always say a teacher because I come from a long history of teachers in my family. One of my grandpas was a high school math teacher along with coaching the football team. My aunt is an elementary school substitute teacher specializing in special needs students, while my uncle is a high school history teacher. While, my father is a physical education teacher who has taught at both the elementary and high school level. Growing up around so many teachers made me think I was destined to be a teacher, although at the time, I was not passionate about it, until my senior year of high school. Senior year I decided to take a child development course where I had the opportunity to volunteer daily at an elementary school. I quickly fell in love with the students and decided that inspiring young children to succeed was my calling. It was this opportunity that made me decide that becoming a teacher was my destiny. Last year I declared as a Child and Adolescent Studies (CHAD) to peruse my dreams of becoming a teacher

I attended Shenedehowa High school from 2011 – 2015. I graduated with an advanced regents diploma after maintaining High Honor Role status for all four years I attended. During my High School career I took mostly honors level courses as well as two Advanced Placements Courses (AP Computer Science and AP United States History).

I graduated from George County High School in May of 2013. My freshman year of college I attended South Alabama and struggled terribly. Due to personal issues I transferred to Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, and am now back at South for my junior year. I plan to begin candidacy in the fall of next year and receive my bachelors in Elementary Education. I hope to one day receive my masters and my bachelors in child psychology.

I am currently a student at Barton Peveril college studying: Biology , Psychology and Sociology. I chose these subjects because I enjoy science and I have a particular interest in child development and behaviour,due to these interests I am keen to pursue a career in education as a primary school teacher. I particularly enjoy psychology, so far we have investigated: child development and behaviour. Within this we learnt how children of different ages are able to learn different things at different stages. For example a child does not acquire the cognitive ability to conserve until over the age of seven. This is where they understand that something stays the same in quantity even though its appearance changes.I found this particularly interesting because younger children would think that the amount has changed because the appearance has changed.

As a student who values the opportunity to work with his professors and peers, Northwestern seems to be a large fit. The unique research and lab opportunities presented at the school interest me. Particularly, the argalabb, or the Assistive and Rehabilitation Laboratory, and the Economics Group are what interest me. Throughout my life, I have been heavily involved with sports. Unfortunately, I have had to struggle through many injuries, having torn my wrist ligaments three times as well as hurting my back and knees. Although these injuries pale in comparison to those who live with crippling injuries and can no longer walk, stand, or perform simple daily functions, my own predicament led to me to being more involved and interested in ways to deal with physical issues.

Throughout my high school career, I have been a very dedicated student. Much like the prestigious students I surround myself with, most of my nights are spent studying for exams, completing homework assignments, writing essays, and keeping on track for the long term goal of college. My academic record does show how I am as a student in limelight. Some years my grades fall due to personal indolence. Other years my grades would be in flying colors, it was dependent on what my motivation was. I found that motivation around junior year and ended that year with a 3.79 GPA and a class rank of 40/145. Though I wish my class rank were higher, my school is a charter school so it is very competitive, even students with GPA's of above 4.00 nearly miss

Ever since I was younger, I have always loved working with children and learning. So, I thought about researching the career of an elementary school teacher. This career has always been a big part of my life because my Nana taught kindergarten. She used to take me to her classroom and show me all of her plans, and I never wanted to leave. Then, when I got a bit older, I even taught as a student teacher with kids who needed extra help. I loved being able to help them learn and also laugh in a classroom environment. So, if I want to get paid for doing something I love, I will choose the career of an elementary school teacher.

An important category that matches my career interests connects with what elementary teachers do on a daily basis. As a young child, I was always a caring person, whether caring for my little brother or someone when they were hurt. I have always developed an interest for helping others. While in

Based on my inventory results, I do have what it takes to be successful in that field. “A teacher need to speak, listen, and help the students” (Focus 2 2015). This career will serve the new generation who enroll in an elementary school. The personal value of this career is being responsible and have patience with kids. Teachers must be responsible for the learning of the students. Furthermore, teachers need to have patience with elementary students because they do not know a lot of things. I will find satisfaction in this career because I love to help others. Also, I am a very patience person. I am sure that I will be fulfilled with this job because I will help future generations. Also, I will accomplish one more goal in my life. This job

Ever since I was a young child, I was curious about the past, and how was it like living back in time. I would even imagine myself experiencing living in the past. Eventually, my curiosity developed into an interest in history, as I wanted to have a better knowledge and understanding of the past. Because of this, I decided to set my goals of becoming a teacher, in hopes of being informed in history. However, after mentoring high school students, my goal of becoming a teacher became deeper than history. I concluded that I wanted to work with children and being a teacher would be the perfect place for my passion in working and mentoring to the youth.

After teaching, people either tend to retire or find work in other fields. Some teach until they are able to retire, but some cannot afford to retire so end up taking a different job to earn more money. Educators can retire after 35 years of teaching or at the age of 6, earning around forty thousand dollars to seventy thousand dollars a year after retirement. Most public educators use that money to pay off the rest of their debts and tend to not lose all of their money. After teachers retire, some even end up coming back to teach for a few more years because they miss the kids or the environment, or because they need more money. “The discontinuation of work with the arrival of retirement is a process surrounded by complexity and challenges,

I am a highly qualified teacher with six years of experience in the classroom. I hold a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education, and currently seeking a Master degree in School Counseling. Over the past six years, I have been a primary classroom teacher which has allow me to gain many skills and experience that has helped me in the classroom.