The story of how I became an educator is actually quite interesting. I had a bit of a rough time when I was in third grade. My teacher certainly did not appreciate my humor. In fact, there was this “special” reward that my third grade teacher had in her classroom. She would give you a giant Hershey Bar if you were chosen as the student of the week, and then she would give you two more Hershey bars to give to your friends, so you could share with them. Naturally, for an entire year, no one picked me. When it came to the end of the year, I was asked to give my “two” friends a Hershey Bar. I told the teacher, “No one has given me any Hershey Bars the entire year and so I am not going to give up mine.” The teacher asked for the Hershey bars back. This is when I realized I would never want to be a teacher who hurt her students in this way. Luckily, my fourth grade teacher Susan Winkler was outstanding. She made me feel loved and appreciated. She knew my talents and my personality, and she certainly believed in my abilities. Mrs. Winkler always treated each student as special, even the “smelly” ones. I knew that was what I wanted to be able to do. Because of Mrs. Winkler, I realized I wanted to become a teacher.
Ironically, I teach third grade and have done so for almost my entire career. I taught fourth grade for two years, and I have been at third grade ever since. It is the perfect fit for me.
I am still in the field of education very simply because I just love what I do. Each day is a new experience. I never know what I am going to learn or what a student is going to learn or when they are going to have that lightbulb moment. I love my students and their sense of humor. There is never a day that goes by where I don’t laugh at something they say or do.
One day I hope that all of our children are protected, cherished, and loved so that they can bloom into amazing adults. Every child deserves to feel loved, accepted and supported.