During my third year of college, most evenings were spent in the McIntire School of Commerce staring at the clock race pass midnight. After a month of business school, I felt lost. Approaching my studies with an apathetic attitude, I started to reevaluate my goals. Fortunately, I found solace in an unexpected place: volunteering in a local high school government class. Over the following year, my desire and reasons to teach evolved from experiences gained while volunteering, substitute teaching, and eventually in my professional career.
The Day in the Life tutoring program provided the first opportunity for me to help in a classroom setting. When I walked through the classroom doors for the first time as a volunteer, I was faced with a room full of unmotivated students. Having no interest in school was a foreign feeling to me. For one reason or another, the students weren’t motivated to pay attention to a teacher, much less study outside of school. Working with students individually allowed me to be an agent of change where it mattered most to me: education. This is when I realized high school, for many, was their last taste of formal education and potentially the opportunities that are present with increased education. I was determined to return to a classroom. This time, to command a larger audience, and become the catalyst for academic success students needed.
The following year, I applied to be a substitute teacher. My eagerness to teach only increased when I was assigned to a freshman English class at my alma mater, Monticello High School. The teacher left instructions regarding classroom instruction and class work. As students entered the classroom, they saw an optimistic young woman who was their contemporary. The result: they turned the classroom into happy hour. After discovering group work was a synonym for gossip time, I changed plans to finish the worksheet as a class. I wasn’t sure if the students were more dumbfounded or impressed that a substitute teacher could actually control and teach a class. As the warning bell sounded signaling the end of the period, several students approached me and remarked how it was the first time they were interested in the material and learned as a class. Their remarks meant I made a difference in their education, contributing to my purpose for teaching: to fuel and create lifelong learners. I left my high school that day feeling more satisfied than I ever had before.
My experiences in my current profession also fed my desire to teach. My professional experience as a consultant provided several opportunities to train and lead others. During software upgrade implementation, I was responsible for training team members and the client on functionality changes both individually and by classroom instruction. After travelling to several states to train the client onsite, I received one of the highest scores for overall teaching performance. The challenge of helping others from diverse backgrounds comprehend complex relationships and functionality was rewarding. My ability to convey relevant information to the client in a concise manner led to my promotion to Support Request Manager, a leadership role on my team. Despite my now remote work location, I continue to serve as a mentor and teacher to junior members on my team.
Ultimately, my desire to teach led me to the Curry School of Education where I recently earned my Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on Social Studies Instruction. While I'm not currently licensed to teach, I've completed a majority of the classes required for a Master of Teaching and look forward to completing my licensure. Although my primary interest lies in teaching U.S. history, government, and business, I've had extensive college coursework in math, technology, economics, amongst others and am happy to serve as an instructor in any social studies course.
The Day in the Life tutoring program provided the first opportunity for me to help in a classroom setting. When I walked through the classroom doors for the first time as a volunteer, I was faced with a room full of unmotivated students. Having no interest in school was a foreign feeling to me. For one reason or another, the students weren’t motivated to pay attention to a teacher, much less study outside of school. Working with students individually allowed me to be an agent of change where it mattered most to me: education. This is when I realized high school, for many, was their last taste of formal education and potentially the opportunities that are present with increased education. I was determined to return to a classroom. This time, to command a larger audience, and become the catalyst for academic success students needed.
The following year, I applied to be a substitute teacher. My eagerness to teach only increased when I was assigned to a freshman English class at my alma mater, Monticello High School. The teacher left instructions regarding classroom instruction and class work. As students entered the classroom, they saw an optimistic young woman who was their contemporary. The result: they turned the classroom into happy hour. After discovering group work was a synonym for gossip time, I changed plans to finish the worksheet as a class. I wasn’t sure if the students were more dumbfounded or impressed that a substitute teacher could actually control and teach a class. As the warning bell sounded signaling the end of the period, several students approached me and remarked how it was the first time they were interested in the material and learned as a class. Their remarks meant I made a difference in their education, contributing to my purpose for teaching: to fuel and create lifelong learners. I left my high school that day feeling more satisfied than I ever had before.
My experiences in my current profession also fed my desire to teach. My professional experience as a consultant provided several opportunities to train and lead others. During software upgrade implementation, I was responsible for training team members and the client on functionality changes both individually and by classroom instruction. After travelling to several states to train the client onsite, I received one of the highest scores for overall teaching performance. The challenge of helping others from diverse backgrounds comprehend complex relationships and functionality was rewarding. My ability to convey relevant information to the client in a concise manner led to my promotion to Support Request Manager, a leadership role on my team. Despite my now remote work location, I continue to serve as a mentor and teacher to junior members on my team.
Ultimately, my desire to teach led me to the Curry School of Education where I recently earned my Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on Social Studies Instruction. While I'm not currently licensed to teach, I've completed a majority of the classes required for a Master of Teaching and look forward to completing my licensure. Although my primary interest lies in teaching U.S. history, government, and business, I've had extensive college coursework in math, technology, economics, amongst others and am happy to serve as an instructor in any social studies course.