As a teacher, I will leverage my upbringing, my past experiences, and an education at University of Pittsburgh School of Education to inspire confidence among

middle school students in their intellectual abilities and futures, the aspects I believe that are most critical to their success. I did not grow up confident. I believe that my primary and secondary private schooling had had something to do with it. The school I attended from pre-k through 12th grade, Augusta Prep, had a strong aversion to failure. If you made mistakes or performed poorly on tests, there was little remediation to promote your learning and growth; there were just bold, red scores on top of white, loose-leaf papers. Preps high-stakes performance culture cultivated within me a profound fear of making mistakes or failing: I started working towards never being wrong in class and on homework and tests. Ironically, this mindset was detrimental to my education and development. When I did make mistakeswhich are impossible to avoid especially as a developing individual, I felt worse about myself. Repeated mistakes culminated in little confidence in my ability to perform well and a feeling of inferiority toward my peers. Ultimately, I began to focus on benchmarking my performance to classmates instead of fully engaging in the process of learning. It was Mr. Shafers 11th grade Calculus class that I fell in love with learning itself. On the first day of class, he told us three things: his class will be difficult, we all will work hard, and we all will succeed. Mr. Shafers words triggered a shift in my mindset toward school. Suddenly, I was motivated by overcoming difficult concepts rather than surpassing my peers. His approach to mistakes and poor grades reinforced this motivation. When my answer to a problem was wrong, Mr. Shafer was not done with me. He would push me, as he would my peers, by breaking down the problem to enable me to understand and correct my mistakes myself. His attentive and

proactive approach to mistake and failure helped my peers and me feel confident and capable in being able to overcome any challenge no matter how difficult. As a teacher, I will celebrate my students learning from mistakes as much as I will celebrate their achievements. If I appreciate students successes and failures, as Mr. Shafer did, I believe they will be more willing to take risks and participate, thereby giving me the ears, eyes, and voices engaged in the process of learning, as I had begun to do in my 11th grade Calculus class. As a mentor to three 7th grade girls at the afterschool program Higher Achievement (Homewood, Pittsburgh), I witness a range of behaviors and emotions including bullying, disrespect, crying, caring, loving, and understanding. I notice that when they come to Higher Achievement, the girls bring their emotions and internal battles with them. I have learned that my most effective way of reaching them was by giving them the opportunity to let their thoughts, ideas, emotions, and opinions be heard. At the beginning of every session, I give them ten minutes to journal about anything on their minds. During the week that divides our next meeting, I read their entries and write non-judgmental comments and inquiries asking them to share more. I have noticed that both after they write entries and receive my comments from the previous week, their willingness to learn and pay attention increases. My mentoring experience has taught me that there are deeper, more ingrained issues that obstruct a students ability to fully learn and grow especially during the transformational and developmental period of middle school. I believe a greater presence in the lives of middle school students in their education will give me the access and a platform to fully engage students in the process of learning. As a teacher, I will strive to wholly understand my students to ensure that my lessons and my attitude effectively reach them emotionally and intellectually.

At the University of Pittsburgh School of Education, I believe that I will have the curriculum, focus, and experiential learning opportunities that will make me successful in the classroom. Through my experiences at Higher Achievement, I have learned that students experiencing developmental change need a platform to be heard and understood. Emphasizing not only core subjects but also adolescent development, the Universitys curriculum will help me understand students as a means to help them grow. The internship requirement gives me the opportunity to put my learnings to the test, make mistakes, and, ultimately, learn from real-world experiences. As a student at the School of Education, I also hope to be a part of the Urban Scholars program where I can apply what I learn in University with students in urban contexts, the demographic I aim to teach after the MAT program. As much as I will be learning from the classes at the University of Pittsburgh School of Education, I will also be learning from the Schools ability to cultivate and develop MAT students into confident and successful teachers. The Schools approach to mistakes, growth, and adolescent development demonstrate the core principles I will employ in my classroom. Ultimately, the school will have the same effect on me as I hope to have on the students I will teach: build confidence in my intellectual capabilities and future.