ABE Running head: Autobiographical Essay

Autobiographical Essay Melinda Chynoweth Carol Billings EDUC 201: Foundations of Education Spring 2013

ABE Autobiographical Essay It is funny how life can take you on a journey that it brings you back full circle to almost where you started. After graduation it was my dream to become a school teacher but the path I ended up on lead me to a job in law enforcement. One thing that being in law enforcement has taught me is that life is too short to not follow your dreams. After twenty one years, it is time to pick up where I left off and work towards becoming a teacher. Educational Background My entire schooling took place within the Nampa School District. The first five years were spent at the old Roosevelt Elementary that was originally built in 1937. There were squeaky hard wood floors so you could never sneak up on anyone and air conditioning involved opening the windows. For 6th grade, all the students in the district were sent to Central Elementary in downtown Nampa. This was the first time we were able to play school sports, join band and had to move from class to class for some of our courses. When I was growing up junior high was considered 7th through 9th grades and high

school did not start until our sophomore year. There was an open campus so for lunches were we could walk to the fast food places around the school for lunches instead of eating cafeteria food. For seniors, there was an option to take an early bird class. These classes started an hour earlier than the normal school schedule allowing us to leave school an hour earlier so those of us who had jobs, could go to work. Graduation was held on the schools football field where for the last time, we would be with 465 of our classmates before leaving to start the next chapter of our lives. After graduation, I tried to go to college at Boise State but was not prepared for the college life and instead chose to take a full time job with the Caldwell Police Department as a

ABE 911 operator. During the last 20 years I have accumulated over 800 hours of training approved by the Police Officers Standard Training (POST.) I have been certified as a reserve police officer, trained to identify domestic violence in addition to being able to deliver a baby or give CPR instructions over the phone. While these types of classes are not the type of training most people will attended, it has been an ongoing part of my job for the last twenty years. There has been varied degrees of teaching abilities by the instructors with some of them have been so boring and dry that you spend more time trying to keep yourself awake than paying attention to what is being taught. There are also those instructors; an example is Gordon Graham, who is a retired cop from California. He uses not only his personal experiences to make his lessons real but includes humor to make them memorable to the audience. By having spent enough time over the years with different types of instructors, it has made me think about how my presentation to a class will be seen by others. I have learned that you have to be willing to adapt from one class to another based on the learning styles of those who are sitting in front of you. I have no intention of killing my students by droning on about a topic if a more interactive approach would work to teach the same ideas with better retention. Now that I have returned to school through CWI, I am hoping that by having some experience under my belt, it will make me a better teacher. Work History

My work history has been limited to just a few jobs throughout my life time. During high school I worked for Shopko as a cashier and worked my way up to working at the customer service desk. Even though I had baby sat growing up this was my first real life experience

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dealing with customers and supervising coworkers. It was intimidating to be 17 years old and in charge of fifteen cashiers, balancing registers along with closing down the store each night. After graduation I spent a few more months at Shopko before going to work as a 911 operator. Fast forward 20 years and I am still answering 911 phone lines but have learned more life lessons that one would ever think possible. I have had to mothers beg me to save their baby who is not breathing, comfort a spouse who has lost their best friend of 60 years or send the coroner to tell a parent that their child has been killed while still keeping control of my emotions so I am ready for the next emergency. Another thing that I have learned over the years is that to function as a team, that regardless of how you feel about your coworkers, bosses or your personal opinions, you have to be able to work and communicate as a team to reach the goals that have been set. I can honestly say that I have not always agreed with what I have been told to do. There have been times I have been quite vocal about the decisions but at other times I have smiled, nodded while doing my part. Before I returned to school, I worked as a supervisor in the center until stepping down to focus on school. As a supervisor, I was forced to redefine my relationships with others. In a training class I went to the instructor, Michael Coker explained that everything that was once fun and funny is no longer fun or funny when you are a supervisor. As a supervisor, not only are you there to supervise other but you are now the role model, the trainer, mentor and rule enforcer. I would say that this is not a far cry from being a teacher. I have only had one other job but was done out of necessity instead of choice. One Thanksgiving I took a part time job as a tow truck driver. The job was actually my husbands but after being injured on the job, his boss threatened to fire him if he was not going to return to

ABE work the next day. So after getting him out of the emergency room, we headed for a large

parking lot where he taught me how to drive a tow truck, load cars and change flat tires. For the next six months I worked as a tow truck driver in addition to my regular job as a 911 operator. This was not a job I wanted to do by any means but I learned that there was no sense in not giving it 100% of your ability and that even the most difficult of situations can be a learning experience. Service and/or Extracurricular Activities Growing up I was part of a Girl Scout troop for 12 years. During the younger years we would visit nursing homes, rake leaves and make meals for the holidays. As we got older our service projects were larger and more community orientated. One of the creepiest projects was the time we went to the old cemetery in Oreana and cleaned it. As we would pull the weeds, we would take turns reading the head stones to see who could find the oldest resident in the cemetery. During high school there was only one year that I played basketball with the school but hated it the entire time. There were days after practice that I would come home crying, begging my parents to let me quit the team. Each time they refused, reminding me that I made a promise to the team. I cannot say that I did not pout and feel sorry for myself for about a week before I make friends with some of the other girls. The lesson I learned is that you have to follow through with a commitment even if you no longer want to do it as there are others that depend on you to do your part. After becoming an adult, until recently, I have not volunteered for any service groups as I have never found the time to do so. Now that I have children, I have been volunteering as a soccer group for girls ages five through seven. I honestly did not want to coach as I knew

ABE nothing about soccer, was going to school full time then add in the demands of a full time job and being a mother, I did not want to give up what little free time I had to coach. I am now in my second year of coaching and love it. It is amazing to watch the kids who have never played before slowly learn soccer moves through games and fun activities without realizing they are

learning. What has been great is that each year the girls come back, we have been able to add in more complicated steps each time to increasing their ability. In a way it is a lot like teaching. You start with the basic and slowly introduce more concepts each time until you reach the level you want them to be at. Reasons for Choosing Education as a Career Law enforcement may have not been my first choice but I did fall in love with it. When my first daughter was only a few months old, I did consider going back to school but was afraid of starting over in school so I took the easy way out and stayed where I was. It was not until 2012 when my hand was forced by circumstances, requiring that I take a look at my life and what was going to make me happy. My Grandma always said that God does not shut the door without opening another. It did take me a long time to quit looking at the closed door and to find an open window to crawl out of. The day I registered for school I thought I was going to die because I had stepped outside the comfort zone I had lived in for many years. My first trip to the book store to get my books took 3 different attempts before I actually made it to the line without chickening out. Today, I am proud of myself for going back to school to follow the dream that I had wanted so many years ago. The one thing that I have learned about teaching has come from our observation time. I have realized that kindergarten is not the age group I want to teach down the road but the last few weeks have shown me how absorbent the children are. They are willing to learn anything

ABE new, eager to please and honest to a fault. You can almost physically see the wheels turn and click into place when you are working with them to grasp a new concept. Sometimes I wish I were like them when it comes to learning and the open mindedness they show. Professional Goals I have a laundry list of short term goals that I would love to accomplish. The first one is to graduate with my associates in elementary education before I am old enough to go on social security. In reality I would like to be done by 2015 so I can move on to Northwest Nazarene College or College of Idaho to finish my bachelors degree.

Another short term goal I have is not related to school or to work per se, but it is to spend more time with my family. It seems that because I work shiftwork, that I am always missing out on the little mile markers of my childrens lives. My shift works is something that my children have grown up with, they do not know how different things could be if I were home every night or had a Christmas off instead of having to kiss them good bye to spend the day with a phone stuck to my ear at work. Even the small things of being able to stay home with them when they are sick or letting them have sleep overs with friends because I am home to supervise would be a blessing. One long term goal is to work within the Vallivue School District as a teacher. For the last 7 years I have had children in the school district and with the exception of one teacher, we have had great experiences with the teachers and I would love to be a part of it. With technology and on line teaching being a larger part of learning now days, I would also like to get my masters degree so I can teach at the college level. While I am not sure what course I would like to teach, I would rather work with the high school students who are doing the dual enrollment so they can work on their college credits while still in high school.

ABE Even with hefty goals and a rocky start into the teaching world, I am looking forward to starting a new chapter in my life. I do not consider it starting over, I think of it more as a detour where I can learn more while still being able to give back to others are well.