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This is a picture of the Mazzochi family in 1995.  My great grandfather came through Ellis Island in 1905 from Naples.  Mazzocchi means "big eyes."  My mother's family has a deeply rooted history having come over on the Mayflower and fought on both sides of the Civil War.  I am the oldest of three children and the only girl.  I fall right into the birth order traits older children. Out of my siblings, I am the responsible one who likes to be in control.
In this picture, we are on a hike.  As a child, my family was extremely outdoorsy.  We were always camping and exploring the mountains.  Enjoying nature was a gift that my parents instilled in me; I still find solace and peace there today.  In the background, you can see our ski mountain, Baldy.  This is where I grew up and was free.  My mother would drop us off at 9:00 and we were free to roam the mountain until 4:00 when we were picked up.  On this mountain, I learned to problem solve when I was stuck or had to hike out of unfamiliar places.  I learned to navigate and read maps.  I learned to be social and talk to strangers on the chairlift.  This mountain is still a very big part of my life and I get a season pass every year.
In the picture, you might notice that my brother is wearing a Grateful Dead shirt.  I was raised on this band like a religion.  We were always listening to music, and 90% of the time, it was The Dead.  Our family vacations were pilgrimages to go see this band.  The reverence my Father felt for this band still astounds me.  Today, my brothers and I still love to go see live music.  Many of our trips together center around jam band music festivals.

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This is a picture of my Family now.  It was taken five years ago.  You might notice that my father is not in it.  He died  of cancer a few months before this picture.  I moved in with my mom to help her financially and emotionally.  I have turned in to the cook of our house.  It is interesting how our roles have changed.  Now, the rent and housing prices are so high here, that I couldn't live on my own even if I wanted to, so it is a good arrangement.  In this picture, we are at a Dead and Co. concert.  Even without my father, we are still making sure to get to the music.  On the left you see my mother.  The most valuable gifts I learned from her was her kindness, general state of happiness, and being awed by the world everyday.

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I must admit, that this is the most difficult part of myself to examine and discuss.  I live in the same community I grew up in.  In recent years, it has undergone much change.  The friendliness and neighborliness of the community seems to be dissipating as the population rises.  As I write, I realize that this has made me feel less a member of the community here.  That is sad.  I might need to get more involved in community service, clubs or groups.  However, I am a part of a wonderful and supportive community of women.  Together we inspire and encourage each other to work for our goals and attain them.  In this picture, you see us just as we made snowshoeing through the mountains to a yurt.  These women are my support system.  They are who I call when the world turns upside-down; they are who I call to celebrate my successes.  I choose this picture because it best represents my most important community, but it also represents where and how we do most of our communing.

Cultural Biases
As I explained, I grew up in this community.  We were poor, but it was situational poverty.  My parents had the cultural capital and education to navigate institutions for help and receive scholarships.  Here (especially at my school), there are not a lot of middle class families anymore.  We have rich families, and poor families.  On one hand, I can relate to many of my students who grow up poor next to students with no financial hardship.  However, now, most of the families on free and reduced lunch are Latino.  Working with these families, I try to empathize and not judge as much as possible.  Doing the REDO program really helped to open my eyes to different cultural norms and ideas.  But I am sure that I still have many cultural biases I am not aware of.  I also realize that as a white woman with a college education I come from a place of privilege.

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I grew up in a bookstore.  My mother worked there.  When I was fourteen, I started working there, too.  I spent much of my life there, surrounded by books and people talking about books.
I am slightly dyslexic, and reading was difficult for me to master.  Still today I am a slower reader.  But my mother read to me everyday, even when I was in high school I would listen to her read, because she was reading to my little brother.  This is probably what gave me the motivation to become a proficient reader.  It is probably also why I am such a good auditory learner.
My favorite genres have always been fantasy and science fiction.  The picture above is the cover from the Wheel of Time Series.  I have spent most of my life reading this series!  I started it in middle school.  But only two or three of the books were written.  So I had to wait a year or two for the next book.  Before it came out, I would always re-read the series to familiarize myself with the stories. Each book was 800 to 1,000 pages.  So as time went on, this became a real feet.  Then in my twenties, after book eight (I think) the author died!  I thought that I would never find out what happened.  But in my thirties, another author wrote two more books, based on the first authors notes, and finished the series.  So, I spent much of my teens, twenties, and thirties reading this series.  (Now, it is a series on Amazon Prime, and I am watching it.)  So, to me, this series is a representation of my literacy journey.
I read other genres, too.  I love talking about books and finding new books to read through friends.  I read fiction, chick-lit, romance, non-fiction, biographies, etc.  But science fiction and fantasy are my favorites.  I love a series.  I like that I get to know the characters as well as my family and friends.  Probably as a result of working in a bookstore, I love helping students and people find the books that they will love, so that I can share that love with them.

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This was the most difficult section of my personal selfie to find an artifact for.  Unlike my personal life, I couldn't think of one thing or experience that encapsulated teaching for me and my experience in the profession.  But I do feel like this picture does encapsulate one of the most important aspects of my teaching. This is a picture of me doing STEM PD with the Idaho STEM Action Center at their summer institute.  I love PD, especially fun PD like this was.  Professional Development inspires me and reinvigorates my units and lessons.  I always get my best ideas when I am in classes, conferences, or workshops, even when it is not related to what we are doing.  Here, I am riding a teacher made hovercraft created out of a leaf blower.  As a teacher, I love learning and how it ignites my brain and creativity.
I have many strengths and weaknesses as a teacher.  My strengths as a teacher are building relationships with students and families.  I don't have my own children so I spend my love on other people's. People who can teach and have their own children at the same time (especially those pursuing their own life's goals like getting endorsements/graduate degrees) are superheroes.  I speak Spanish, so I am a point person for Spanish speaking parents and I do a few home visits each year to build relationships with parents and, or, students who are difficult to reach.  I am also very passionate about Language Arts.  I love empowering students to be readers and writers.    My biggest weakness is behavior management.  I switched from fifth grade to middle school three years ago.  While it is smooth sailing with sixth graders, I have some trouble with seventh and eight grade classes and where the lines are behaviorally.  Another weakness would be managing a life-work balance.  I don't have a balance, it is more like a teeter-totter.