https://padlet.com/kb3184/15w8tkqwrmizo0ta What led me to teaching en-us 2021-01-13 22:10:23 UTC 2025-12-10 12:52:36 UTC hello@padlet.com kb3184 https://padlet.com/kb3184/15w8tkqwrmizo0ta/wish/1085209441 My favorite play activity when I was a kid was teaching my stuffed animals. I would create elaborate lesson schedules, packed full of every subject I could think of, and absolutely loved writing on my whiteboard and in any journal I could find. I did this at home, on vacation — anywhere I could. When I got older, I would write up detailed homework for my stepmom based on what I was learning in my own classes. This became so fun for me that it occupied most of my time that I probably should have been spending on my own homework.]]> 2021-01-13 22:16:56 UTC https://padlet.com/kb3184/15w8tkqwrmizo0ta/wish/1085209441 kb3184 https://padlet.com/kb3184/15w8tkqwrmizo0ta/wish/1085223976 When I was in college, I took a job working at my college's Writing Center as a peer tutor. I fell in love with the personal connections I made and the rush of joy I got when my clients felt much more relieved at the end of just an hour-long session. I thought, if I can do all that in one hour, imagine how much I could do with a whole year.]]> 2021-01-13 22:25:39 UTC https://padlet.com/kb3184/15w8tkqwrmizo0ta/wish/1085223976 kb3184 https://padlet.com/kb3184/15w8tkqwrmizo0ta/wish/1085224990 I began to take a variety of education courses in college, some of which involved student teaching. Going into real classrooms and interacting with actual human children who were bright and energetic became the best part of my weeks. I also became very interested in the issues I was learning about in my courses and wanted to explore them on a larger scale, like in graduate school. During my senior year, I was enrolled in a small eight-person capstone course for the education minor and heard about all the other students' acceptances into teaching grad schools, including Columbia, and wished that was me.]]> 2021-01-13 22:26:17 UTC https://padlet.com/kb3184/15w8tkqwrmizo0ta/wish/1085224990 kb3184 https://padlet.com/kb3184/15w8tkqwrmizo0ta/wish/1085225273 I got a job as a teaching aide at a special education preschool right when I graduated college to make sure teaching was something I wanted to do, and it was. Just like when I began tutoring, I fell in love with the work I was doing. The children I was developing longterm relationships with introduced a new sense of fulfillment that I knew would make my life whole and satisfying when I pursued it as a career.]]> 2021-01-13 22:26:28 UTC https://padlet.com/kb3184/15w8tkqwrmizo0ta/wish/1085225273 kb3184 https://padlet.com/kb3184/15w8tkqwrmizo0ta/wish/1085233854 Just before kindergarten, I was in a very traumatic accident that left me with many emotional and physical injuries including losing my mother and suffering brain, eye, and hip injuries that left lasting effects for my entire life. All of these made my schooling experience very different than my peers'. Not only was I treated differently based on my outward differences but I looked at the world very differently, and thus felt deeply invested in the protection of anyone with differences.]]> 2021-01-13 22:31:54 UTC https://padlet.com/kb3184/15w8tkqwrmizo0ta/wish/1085233854 kb3184 https://padlet.com/kb3184/15w8tkqwrmizo0ta/wish/1085515159 2021-01-14 01:35:07 UTC https://padlet.com/kb3184/15w8tkqwrmizo0ta/wish/1085515159 kb3184 https://padlet.com/kb3184/15w8tkqwrmizo0ta/wish/1085515393 2021-01-14 01:35:17 UTC https://padlet.com/kb3184/15w8tkqwrmizo0ta/wish/1085515393 kb3184 https://padlet.com/kb3184/15w8tkqwrmizo0ta/wish/1085515730 2021-01-14 01:35:26 UTC https://padlet.com/kb3184/15w8tkqwrmizo0ta/wish/1085515730 kb3184 https://padlet.com/kb3184/15w8tkqwrmizo0ta/wish/1085516576 2021-01-14 01:35:59 UTC https://padlet.com/kb3184/15w8tkqwrmizo0ta/wish/1085516576 kb3184 https://padlet.com/kb3184/15w8tkqwrmizo0ta/wish/1085524695 2021-01-14 01:41:27 UTC https://padlet.com/kb3184/15w8tkqwrmizo0ta/wish/1085524695