When I Grow Up...

 Does this sound familiar?! At some point in your school experience, I'm pretty sure you had to finish this phrase. Whether you had to say it aloud or write it down, it was presented to you in some way. Now I know when I heard this phrase, several answers came to mind. Here is what came to my mind: nurse, librarian, writer, paralegal, and a counselor. Yes, my mind changed many times about what I wanted to be when I grew up and yours may have done the same 😊. One thing I did know from a young age is that I wanted to work with kids. You see, growing up in our household, there were always kids at our house. My Mom was the neighborhood babysitter and she was the best💜. Ms. Sylvia's house was the place to be according to the kids 😉. In fact, sometimes the kids didn't even want to go home when their parents came to pick them up! Every child that came to our house was shown the same love that my brother and I were shown. My Mom treated every child like her own son or daughter. When the kids would go out to the store with us, people at the store thought they were my Mom's own children. My Daddy wasn't home as much when the kids were at the house because he was working, but he loved them just as much. The kids also knew Mr. Buzz didn't know all the rules completely and tried to get him to do things with them they knew were a no from Ms. Sylvia, such as playing with the ball in the house. The look Ms. Sylvia would give him and the kids...poor Daddy! He was just trying to be nice 😁.We were able to laugh about it though😊. Love was felt by all. It was in these moments spent with the kids at my house that my desire to work with kids grew, not to mention the times I lined up my Barbie dolls and stuffed bears and pretended I was teaching them. It did flow naturally, but I had no idea I would be a teacher, which is my current career. I haven't always wanted to be a teacher, so let me tell you how that came about. In 2005 (which seemed like ages ago, but at the same time like yesterday 😊), I graduated Christopher Newport University with my bachelor's degree in psychology and a minor in childhood studies. I majored in psychology because I wanted to be a counselor. The minor in childhood studies came about because I knew I wanted to work with children in some way. After graduation, I lived in my local community I grew up in and looked for work in the local school system which I used to be a student at. I applied for a job in the school system and got a job working as a teacher assistant working one-on-one with a middle school student. I was so happy and thankful for God blessing me with a job right out of college! That summer, I also volunteered at the summer program they did at the middle school and assisted students there. Looking back at that experience, that gave me my first glance of what my teaching journey would look like 💚💙. I worked as a one-on-one teacher assistant for two years. I was a also a bus aide and enjoyed doing that. From there, I was a teacher assistant in the regular classrooms for 6th and 7th grade. During that time, I also began substituting at times and would do that for a whole day, half day or 1 or 2 class periods even. Substituting kept pulling on the strings of my heart to think about teaching. I remember one teacher in particular ( who was my 6th grade homeroom teacher) who asked me after subbing for a class on the hallway could I see myself doing this every day. I remember saying yes I could and thinking about the next steps I would need to get my teaching certificate. Then other thoughts came to mind, such as "Where do I start?" "Do I really have what it takes to be a teacher?" and "Will I have enough money to pay for classes?" I had just paid off student loan debt from my undergraduate studies (praise God 👏) and wasn't trying to go back in debt again. I looked online at a few schools and asked a few questions to coworkers at the time, but that was about it. I didn't take it real serious and couldn't seem to find a school that was a right fit for me. Early on working at the school, I did start taking an online orientation for a teaching program at a college, but I didn't finish. I ran into an obstacle and decided to just stop instead of working through it. I stepped back from school searching and just focused on working with students in the classroom and being an advisor of Bible Club which met after school twice a month. I enjoyed doing both very much! I started getting serious about school again around 2015-1016. It was in that time that I reached out to a coworker and asked questions to her as I know she was finishing her college teaching program and seemed to really like it. She was able to give me a phone number of one of the counselors at her college. I made the phone call to the counselor and asked questions, which led to taking necessary steps forward. 2017 comes and I apply and get accepted into the Master's degree for Elementary Education at Grand Canyon University (the college my coworker went to🙌)! 2017 is also the year that I begin working with a Reading program (Read180) at the school, which would give me more responsibility than I had before. My classes at GCU would start in September, along with the new school year and new position. I was excited and nervous at the same time! I felt peace about GCU as I knew it was a right fit for me. I did a lot of praying, juggling responsibilities, working hard, taking breaks and had long days, but I had to keep my end goal in mind- my teaching degree/certification. I faced my toughest moment in 2020: the loss of my beautiful Mom. The morning of January 18, 2020 at 9:23am changed my life. My biggest cheerleader, my sister, best friend through thick and thin that never stopped believing in me even when I didn't believe in myself at times was gone. When I say this shook me to the core, it shook me. As hard as it was, I had to hold on to my faith in God 🙏. At that time, I had taken a break from classes because I only had one more class to take left. I made it through 2020 with God! In January 2021, I did student teaching in a local 2nd grade classroom, which was fun and challenging during a pandemic year. We had the kids virtual and in person. The pandemic year prepared me to teach in all types of circumstances! I finished my Master's degree in Elementary Education with a GPA of 3.89- praise God 🙌!! With teacher certification comes tests and the number and type will vary depending on what certification you get. I ended up needing 6 tests! As I mentioned in another blog post, I am not a big fan of tests, but I knew what I needed to do. I asked God to really help me with those tests because He knew how I felt about them 🙏. In the summer of 2021, I took all 6 tests and passed 4 of them on the first try, which was good for me. For the remaining two tests, it took two times to pass one and three times to pass the other. I can stand here proudly and say that I have passed all my tests now! In November of this year, I received my official teacher license in the mail!! I crossed the finish line and what a great feeling that is 🙌🙌!!! So, no, teacher was not what I would have filled in behind "When I grow up, I want to be.." However, I'm glad I chose to be a teacher. I currently teach 6th grade English, Reading and Math at the middle school I was a student at and am still the advisor of Bible Club. A full circle moment indeed 😊! It is a good fit for me and I do have what it takes to work with the kids. I enjoy it very much! Do you know what else I found out?! I'm continuing to grow up, be mature and expand my knowledge. You can do the same! Don't ever stop dreaming. Don't ever stop growing up 💙💚!! So what's the next stop on my professional development journey...stay tuned to find out 😉! God bless you!