I was first exposed to the education career field through my parents; my mom has

been an elementary school teacher for seventeen years and my dad has been a biology

professor for sixteen years. Through them, I found my passion for teaching. I landed my

first career within the education field as an extended day aide at Barbara B. Robey

Elementary School after I graduated high school. This experience further encouraged me

to pursue education, but even though I thoroughly enjoyed working with children, I knew

that I wanted to teach English to an older age group. After a year and a half of taking

prerequisites, I signed up for a pathway program at ASU, which involved selecting my

desired degree; Bachelor's Degree in Secondary Education (English). Now, I’m an

English teacher at Agua Fria High School where I teach sophomores and seniors. I also

teach creative writing as an elective and I am a co-teacher for the journalism club.

Education has many purposes. Not only do you learn how to learn, but education

teaches lifelong habits that will be useful in the workforce and in your personal life,

education teaches us how to be productive and thoughtful citizens, and education allows

us to make new discoveries that will fill and expand our minds. As an educator, my role

is to facilitate learning, nourish young minds, and to help guide my students to become

successful; academically and personally. Students learn what they are being taught and

find ways to apply what they have learned inside and outside of school. Parents offer

support, encouragement, and guidance to help their children succeed. They also

communicate and work with the teacher to ensure that their child receives proper

instruction. Community members invest their time into providing a quality education for

their future leaders and inventors.

 I would like to conclude by stating my stance on problem-based learning and

technology integration because these two teaching strategies are most important to me.

Problem-based learning requires students to learn about a subject by working in groups to

solve an open-ended problem. This problem is what drives the motivation and the desire

to learn. I believe that problem-based learning is an extremely beneficial strategy to help

students grow their own knowledge and skills because they are forced to solve a problem

all on their own. Regarding technology, I believe that the use of technology is also a

beneficial strategy to heighten and improve a students learning experience. At first, I was

really against the idea of using technology inside of my classroom, mostly because I’m

very old school, but I have learned about the benefits and the exciting opportunities that

technology can present! With that in mind, I love to use Padlet as a source for my

students to post their exit tickets, and I love to use Peardeck for an interactive lecture!