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I never thought I'd want to return to GHS - the place of so much misery in my adolescence, but I did come back. My second career (or third, or fourth depending on how you count...) is as a teacher. I'm so glad I did it. I love my job!

Challenge: Becoming a teacher
(Describe it) Becoming a teacher was a major challenge for me. Not only was it a mid-life career change when I had young children at home, it was not entirely what I thought it would be. I understood the challenge of the material and helping students become better readers, writers, and thinkers, but I did not realize how hard it would be to get up in front of classrooms full of students each day. Getting to know 100 or more kids, figuring out what they need as a group and as individuals, helping them get motivated, ensuring they are learning what they need to learn... well, it's all incredibly difficult even now after doing it for eleven years.

(What did it reveal to you about yourself? How did you overcome it? Include a weakness and strength.)  I think teaching revealed my insecurities (weakness). I worried a lot about whether I was doing things well. But, I have also discovered that my enthusiasm for what I do and for what I teach is a real asset (strength). Even when I made mistakes, students always told me that my energy and passion for what I do helped them learn. This gave me the confidence to keep trying and also made me see that success might look different for me than for someone else. Over time, I continue to build my confidence by evaluating my progress and changing my methods. I'm open to changing the way I do things, and I keep researching and learning more on my own. New learning keeps me excited about teaching too!

(What did you learn about human nature in general?) What I learned is that we are rarely perfect and that we seem to be gifted strengths that we can use to balance our weaknesses. We just have to be brave enough and patient enough with ourselves to find our strengths, then take the time and put in the effort to figure out how we can use our strengths to overcome the weakness in any given situation. (350)

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This is where I spent every summer of my childhood with my many cousins. My mom always won the wave riding contests and I was usually a close second. I was sorry when the family sold the house, but we found other places on the Jersey shore to visit. I have not missed a year yet!

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This is the first house I owned. I lived here when I had my first child and we had great friends on this block. It is in Oakland CA. I loved the house, the neighbors, and the weather. It was a little area that was less foggy than others on summer days. We had a lemon tree, a peach, and even a massive avocado (which made one avocado in three years).

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I travelled to Pucon with my best friend... We climbed the volcano you see in the photo and then slid down in snowsuits at very unsafe speeds. That volcano actually erupted many years later and covered this town and areas within 100 miles with feet of ash.

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We moved to Canada when I was about three. My dad got a job teaching, and my mom had a garden and made everything from scratch. We had pretty much no money and lived with another family in a rental house surrounded by cornfields, strawberries, and cows.

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This is where I was born!  Well, that's the church where my folks were married, but I was born in PA close to this church on the campus of Villanova University. I love that my daughter ended up going to school in Philadelphia because that gives me a chance to visit the area again as an adult.