Part 1: I am a Teacher

Let's be honest. Writing a narrative about who you are as a person is hard. How I see myself and how the world sees me are often two different things. When I was encouraged to start this blog, one of my colleagues said your so organized, you've got great ideas, you give great advice- but I don't see myself that way. I still see the girl who lacks self confidence, who is perpetually unorganized, who had a marriage to the wrong person, who ... well I could go on and on. But the truth is I am who I see and what the world sees. I am a culmination of all my life experiences and how I have chosen to deal with it.   I am NOT perfect, not even close. What I am is a person who tries to live a Godly life but often fail. So lets start at the beginning...  I have known since my earliest memory  that I  wanted to be a teacher. I once had a professor who said "People aren't born to be teachers.", but I completely disagree. I was born to be a teacher. Even before I graduated high school, I put all the right things in place: I babysat, I worked summer recreation, worked in the church nursery and generally did everything  I could to learn about and surround myself children and teaching. What I did not do is prepare for the reality of adulthood. My parents were by no means rich, but could afford to send me to the local community college in town. Well let's just say that even though I was very capable to do the work and go to class, I fell into what I refer to as "having stuff was more important that going to college." And thus began my 2-3 years lingering but not really making a dent in the hours needed to have a degree. When I was 20 I began volunteering at a local Head Start program and my love of Early Childhood started. I went back to college and then decided it was time to "get married." Well, marriage turned into baby and before I knew it, I was working for a justice of the peace and not going to school. When I turned 30 and my marriage was falling apart, I decided to go see a counselor and one thing she told me really stood out. She said, "you beat yourself up for not finishing school." I knew she was right and for "homework" she told me to call a college and see about taking a class or two. I called made an appointment and basically was enrolled and class started before I realized what was happening. I honestly didn't have time to talk myself out of it.  For the next 18 months I went to school and finally on December 19, 2009- 16 years after graduating high school- I walked across that stage and got my degree! I didn't get my first teaching job until about 3 years later when I walked right back into the same school where I volunteered about 15 year before. I taught Pre-K there for 3 years, taught two Summers of Kindergarten and this year is my first full year in Kindergarten.