I was raised in Ionia, MI. I am the oldest of five children. We were privileged to have many acres of land to grow on. Some of our land was dedicated to farming and another portion to auto mechanics. I learned many things from feeding our animals and helping my dad fix vehicles. I think my home is where my passion for learning started. My passion continued to develop at Palo Community Schools where I attended grades 2-8.
Palo is a very unique school. The whole school had under two hundred students while I was attending and each grade had on class and one teacher. This provided a chance to really make strong connections with fellow students and the teachers. You knew that they cared about you.
As, I grew older I continued to reflect on my education at Palo Community Schools. I attended two very large high schools and found it hard to make valuable connections with faculty and staff of the schools.
Directly out of high school, I attended Grand Valley State University. I initially entered without knowing what I wanted to be when I "grew up." I took several classes before I knew I wanted to be a teacher.
I chose to get my license in Elementary Education. I want to work with middle school students and possibly students in alternative education programs. I have found the Elementary Education Preparatory classes helpful in understanding the framework and foundations that students need to have in place before going on to high school.
So far, I have been working in the non-profit/public administration area for 2 years. I work for a community based organization that receives both local/ private and federal funding. I assist area youth to prepare for the GED tests and provide a community location for a high school credit recovery program for high school students. I have been struggling with my career for various reasons.
I don't like the current political/structural hierarchy of education and the effects it has had on people's perception, expectations, or value of a teacher. I am not sure I want to be a part of the evolution of education while being a new teacher. Therefore, I have NOT actively searched for "traditional" teaching positions. I would feel too vulnerable. I could expand on this, but I may leave that for another post.
In preparing students for the GED, I have lost a lot of my passion for creating engaging educational opportunities. I am simply, teaching to the test. That's all I can do because I work with a very transient population. I have considered exploring ways to change the program from computer-based, independent self-paced learning, but because of the wide range of learners who begin at such various dates, this task is too daunting to tackle. It would be the equivalent to a paradigm shift. I am not confident that I can inspire such great change in a geographical area that does not value a teacher.
Those I would say are the two most significant reasons for my hesitancy to begin teaching. There aren't schools like Palo anymore. Palo actually closed its doors at the end of last summer. Their last school year was 2012-2013. It's depressing.
I am not sure how to "make a difference."
