Background Statement

I was put into school a little young. I had not turned five when I took my test to see how I would do in Kindergarten. I passed the small examination and because my parents, mostly my father, placed importance on education, I was entered at a young age.
I came into my educational experience with high standards from my parents and a healthy dose of self created curiosity. I entered a classroom that let my curiosity run as free as it could. We had a room full of colors and creativity (including such wonders as a bath tub filled with pillows to read in) and under this environment I blossomed. My teachers quickly realized that I was an intelligent, good natured child but that I might not always do things the way that all the other children did.
My first years had little consistency in classroom structure or style of teacher transmission but they did have one thing in common, caring teachers who were willing to have a little patience with me. With these teachers I was able to perform well no matter if classroom was structured seating or desks anywhere they wanted to be. I performed in classes that had the teacher relaying more information to the students and in classes that let the students explore their subject in a more hands on sense. I came to class each day wanting to learn and left each class happy to report to my parents that school was going well for me.
It seemed like my early educational experiences involved teachers who were allowed to teach the class how they saw fit, but that quickly changed for me as I entered our middle school. My experience in education quickly became summed up in rows. Our classes were all lined up in grids or columns. It seemed almost as though the point of this new school environment was to create easily recognizable geometric patterns rather than to foster an environment for learning. The entire class was devoted structure. From the homework assignment sheets that we had to fill out every night and were in fact graded on to the detentions received for talking without raising our hands when talking life became a struggle to create a more organized version of myself.
This was only a partially successful mission for me. Though I understood the material and was placed in our schools gifted and talented program I never quite adhered to my schools ideal notion of an organized student. My backpacks and notebooks were always a mess of papers and my homework, though done correctly, might have a section missing or the order of the information reversed. More than once my report cards had comments along the lines of “bright student, would benefit from more organization”.
I disliked many of my teachers during these years. There were a few shining exceptions but generally I thought my teachers cared more about creating order than about learning or the students. I was never a bad kid but always found myself in just a little bit of trouble mostly just for looking at the classroom differently than my teachers did.
High school was a more enjoyable experience for me. Erskine academy was a school slightly more akin to my elementary school in that our teachers all seemed to run their classes in their own unique ways instead of by all comparing how precisely their class ran. Each class seemed like it’s own small world and with few exceptions the teaching staff showed that they truly did care about the school and the performance of the students. One teacher in particular struck me like a teacher never had before. My English teacher sophomore year, Ryan Nored, was also my theatre director. In both domains he showed an aptitude and passion that absorbed me completely. He also showed that he cared about me beyond the classroom. He was the first teacher who could tell that I needed to get more organized and have me listen. True, I never really did stop being a different type of student (and I doubt I ever will) but I did alter my habits in education because of this fantastic teacher.
I felt like this teacher expected so much from me because he cared about me rather than about making sure his class was run smoothly. When class was over, I could talk to Mr. Nored and his sense of humor and willingness to talk to me about anything made me unable to do anything but like this man. More importantly, I respected him. When I was acting out, he took me aside and rather than playing by the school rules and giving me detention he told me about how he expected better from me and how he never wanted to see that behavior from me again. It impacted me greatly. Of all the good teachers I had experienced never before had one been able to effect me in such a way. Ryan Nored is the reason I want to become a teacher.
My attitude about school had changed slightly over these years. I was no longer in these classes with my main goal being to return home to show my parents how many good grades I had received. I was doing these classes with more personal goals in mind but at times this led to difficulty. When I failed to see the importance of a class to my life or experienced a teacher I did not see eye to eye with my attitude became obstinate at times and apathetic at others. In the end my desire for good grades made me buckle down and produce good grades but at times the little letter I would receive at the end of that class was the only reason I worked. Even this would begin to fade though as over time I would begin to question the importance of grades.
Overall, my experience in my own school system taught me a great deal about being a teacher. I learned that motivators such as a fear of acting out or a pressure to obtain high grades will eventually fail. It seems as though after you receive enough As and Bs the letters all run together into an indecipherable string of alphabet garbage. Eventually students realize that getting a detention will not change your life. They realize that after they serve their hour or so in the school they have left truly unpunished and continue their life like it may as well have been another student stuck in the seat.
Over the course of my education there has been one constant, successful method for student growth, care about the student. This may not have been the goal for my school, but in my opinion, it may as well have been. These teachers that followed this principle were my true concept of what school was. These were the teachers who shaped me and made me realize the joy that could come from teaching. I hope to be this kind of teacher myself. I realize that much in the vein that I am a different type of student I will also be a different type of teacher. I wouldn’t want this any other way. I believe that if I can bring both my passion for the subject as well as a caring persona to the classroom my students will thrive.
One of the principals that this entails is paying attention to the ways in which my students work well. This may require me to pay a closer attention to detail and structure myself more so that my students are aware of the requirements of the class. Knowing this, I can approach my classroom with a genuine attempt to help both myself and my students.