One, Two, Skip a Few

Some deep-rooted part of me has always wanted to educate, and while I wasn't always sure at what level or what subject, I always knew that some day I would pass on what I know to others.

I spent plenty of time and money in college the first few years volleying back and forth about being a teacher. Part of me wanted to get out and try something new; I wanted to go to the moon, or be in the peace corps, or be a photo journalist in a third world country. It's not that I do not think that I could do these things, I'm sure I could.

It is more that..., classrooms are my safe havens. I have spent my entire childhood running up and down the halls of schools, hiding from janitors and getting into things that normal children (those who didn't grow up with both parents as teachers) weren't ever allowed to experience.

If you've ever spent a Saturday or Sunday at a school by your own choice you will know what I mean. It is a right of passage that just makes being in a school a whole new experience; being in school is like being home for me.

I guess now that I've sat down to think about it, I realize that I never really had a choice; I've never been completely comfortable in any other atmosphere.

Now, if I'm being asked why I want to teach Special Education vs. General Education..., well that's a different story. Up until very recently I had no real interaction with any special needs child for any prolonged period of time. Then I spent a few days at Heartspring with some of the most adorable autistic children this world has ever seen, and my heart just longed to take them home and make them all mine. Don't worry, I left them there.

I want to special in Autism, because these children, while having handicaps of a sort, are completely brilliant - in their own way. I all of a sudden saw the world in a totally different way.

Also, I should mention that I love to read. Reading was what I was grounded from as a child, it was that kind of love. I loved to dive into a new world where all sorts of crazy and unimaginable things happened; where animals could talk, and where people who have faced unbelievable pain still stand to brave another day. I love to read of magic and passion and love, and I want to believe that good always prevails over evil, and in books I can. And I want to pass that magic on to children. I want kids who maybe don't have the best home life to know that there is still magic and love out there. I want to provide the escape for them that books provided for me (although, clarification: I had an amazing home life).

I want to be like my mom. That is what it basically boils down to. I want to make her proud.