Week of November 30, 2015

As a person growing up in northern Wisconsin, I have made and still maintain many relationships with individuals who have made an impact on my life.  I will admit, this is pretty easy to do, coming from an area where the population is less than 2,000, but even then, many of these relationships have helped me develop into the person that I am today.  Besides my parents, some of my most meaningful relationships have been with teachers;  Teachers who went above and beyond to see that you have reached your potential, and then some; teachers who still make connections with you even after you graduate and move on to the next chapter of your life.  These are the kinds of teachers I know truly care and try to the best of their abilities to be the best teachers that they can be, and I hope to one day make an impact on my future students' lives in the way that my teachers made an impact on me.

I believe that by going above and beyond to help students succeed is one of many ways that I can make a difference in the lives of young people.  One way to do so is to simply know your students.  By knowing your students, you make them feel worthy and respected by both their peers and you as an educator.  By giving students opportunities for success while still challenging them, students gain self-confidence in themselves and learn about what they are capable of achieving. 

A personal example I can give of this is my high school Algebra 2 teacher.  I had previously had him as a teacher for Algebra 1 so we had somewhat of a relationship, but this teacher did not make a significant impact on my life until Algebra 2.  I have struggled with math my whole life, and Algebra 2 was proving to be even more of a struggle.  I was failing the course according to the scores I received on my tests, but the results on my daily homework assignments were sufficient.  After having a meeting with my teacher, he gave me the opportunity to retake my tests that I had failed, and I would have been insane not to take advantage of it, despite math being my least favorite subject.  The one thing that I remember him saying to me was, "I refuse to give you an F in this class."  When he told me this, I committed myself to proving to him that I deserved to pass this class.  He was able to secure a permanent pass that would allow me to come to his room during Resource to work on homework, he allowed me to retake tests both orally and written, and when I re-took that first test and I received an A-, I broke down in tears because of the weight lifted off of my shoulders.  From then on, I began to gain confidence that I could pass this course.  Before every test, I re-did EVERY SINGLE homework assignment of the chapter.  Eventually I worked my grade up from a F, to a C.  Because of this teacher's dedication to my success, I want to be able to give this opportunity to my future students so they can experience what I felt and help them discover that they can do anything through hard work and determination.