Linda Melo- What Brings Me to Teaching

 

    During my junior year of high school, I was involved in a program named "OneGoal". It's objective is to support first generation students, those that normally would not have the resources to pursue an education once completing high school. One of the projects was to create a slideshow of our potential careers, and I believe that's the first time I put serious thought into what I wanted to be when I grew up. Being 16 and extremely naive, I automatically googled "highest paying careers" as if within that search I'd find my future. My program director, Ms. Koszyk, quickly redirected me. She said, "Don't focus on the money right now, think about the things that make you happy." And my first thought was "history". From freshmen year my favorite class would always be in the social studies department. I remember my friends would always call me out for liking history so much, but the complaining would stop when I let them copy off of me during exams. I did not want to stop learning about history once high school ended, so I was determined to major in it in college. But I kept thinking, what could I even do with a history degree? And that's when I considered teaching and I began to pay attention to the demographics of the teachers in my high school.
    I immediately noticed that my teachers were primarily Caucasian women, with the exception if the Spanish department. I thought about how that made me feel personally, and I sensed that I,  a Hispanic student attending a heavily Hispanic and African-African populated high school, was not able to relate to my teachers on a personal level. If I felt that way, I was certain my peers must have had similar feelings. I believe that having teachers with the same background as your own can aid in creating a trusting relationship. I noticed the importance of having educators that look like you early on because of this and soon this realization became another driving force into pursing a career in education.
     Fast forward to once I already graduated high school and I was accepted into the Golden Apple program. During our first session of summer institute, we would have cooperating teachers allow us into their classrooms. My first placement was not in my focus area, instead I was placed in an ESL class for third graders due to the lack of Spanish speakers within the Golden Apple Scholars. I remember feeling extremely bummed out I would not be placed in a social studies classroom. or at least in a high school level class, but those feelings changed on my first day at on-site. That experience reinforced my belief of having teachers you can relate to is a major component to a student's success. Although I was fresh out of high school and not even a real adult yet, the students just seemed much more comfortable asking me for help rather than their actual teacher. That was my first summer, and I've had an additional two more summers like that in which similar instances occurred. Every summer I am allowed to observe classes, and later be granted with the opportunity to actually gain experience with teaching children as well. I can honestly say I love the warm-fuzzy feeling I receive when I notice students finally understanding a concept they had difficulty with until you walked them through it.
      What drove me into wanting to become a teacher was many factors. First, having an amazing teacher, Ms. Koszyk, guide me into thinking about taking the post secondary education route instead of settling for a full-time job right out of high school like most of my family members. That helped me realize there is a need for teachers that go above and beyond for their students in order to help them see their own potential.Secondly, I want to teach in a school of need because I feel like its important for students to have role models that actually look like them. I’ll be able to show students that their ethnicity or family income shouldn’t be a barrier when they are trying to accomplish their goals. Lastly, I want to be a teacher because I'm excited to use my passion for history to help future students.