Deciding to become a teacher was an interesting process.

If pedigree were the only requirement

to become a teacher, I'd be in. Both of my parents went back to school to get their California
Teaching Credential when I myself was in Elementary school. My grandmother taught high
school for over 30 years and her father was a professor at Cornell. I had an ancestor on the
Mayflower who was a teacher. In the middle ages some of my ancestors were tutors to royalty.
You would think with such a history I would have always known it was my destiny to teach. On
the contrary, I thought it was my destiny to break the chain. Being an English major as an
undergraduate student at the University of California, Davis, I cannot count the number of times
I was asked if I wanted to teach, or the number of times I said absolutely not. The change in my
attitude was gradual.
I've always known that teaching is not the kind of job you leave behind at the end of a work
day. It comes home with you, if not physically with papers to grade and lesson plans to write
then emotionally and intellectually as issues with students or colleagues. I learned this growing
up from my mother, my father and my grandmother as I helped set up and take down classrooms,
graded papers for 10 cents a page and lived with teachers. I believe that it was this knowledge
that put me off of the idea of teaching at first. The interesting thing is that though I have grown
up around teachers, this after-hours aspect of teaching was all I ever really saw, aside from my
time on the other end as a student. The change began my sophomore year at UC Davis when I
befriended Nadine Pinkerton. She was a woman I went to church with, and the librarian at a local
elementary school. We bonded over children's literature. Until that point I knew I was going to
school, but I did not yet know what for. It was through the ensuing friendship that I began to
develop an idea for my own career path. As I talked with Nadine and assisted her in her library a
few times, I realized that books and literature are my passion and that being an elementary
school librarian would allow me utilize that passion. I loved the interaction with the children and
the atmosphere of the school, and I wanted the opportunity to help children enjoy and love books
and stories as I do.
I then began looking into what steps I needed to take in order to achieve this new goal. Imagine
my chagrin to discover that teaching was one of those steps. And so despite my avid past denials,
I set my sights on the teaching profession. "The first thing you need to do," advisers told me, "is
spend some time in a classroom to get an idea of teaching is really like". And so I did, and that
was when I got my first real look at what a teacher does. Not what a teacher brings home at the
end of the day, but what they do while standing in the front of a classroom.
My first experience was ideal. I had the wonderful opportunity to work with a teacher who truly
loved her work, deeply cared about her students, and showed me that teaching is an edifying,
important and fun profession. After volunteering in her third grade class for three months I
realized that I wanted to become a teacher, not merely as a means to an end, but because I
actually did want to teach. I wanted to a class students, open the students' eyes to things they
never knew before, help them overcome their stumbling blocks and encourage them in their
strengths. I was able to speak with this teacher about her teaching philosophy and some of joys
and worries she had as a teacher. The more I spoke with her, the more my conviction grew that
this was what I wanted to do. I continued to volunteer and work in elementary schools for the
remainder of my time at UC Davis, and after I graduated and moved to Seattle, Washington I had

my first experience actually teaching a class when I was a teacher's assistant in a Montessori PreSchool. Each additional experience has only helped to reaffirm my initial convictions.
So I've decided I want to teach. The question you are probably asking, and the question I have
asked myself many times, is can I teach? Do I have what it takes to be a successful and
influential teacher? Becoming the steward of a child's education. Will I have a positive impact, a
negative impact, or no impact at all? These thoughts give me thrills of both excitement and fear.
I know my weaknesses, but I also know my strengths and my strengths will make me successful.
I connect well with children. I don't know if this is a result of or the reason for my love of
children's literature. I have always been able to talk, work and think with children. I really
began to see this when I started working in the classroom, helping the students with their work
and interacting with them in an academic setting. I also have a lot of experience as an authority
figure with children. I gained this experience as I have worked in classrooms, as I have worked
in childcare, and as the older sister of five siblings. Although I did learned a lot when I took a
course on educational psychology, many of the concepts from that class only reaffirmed what I
had already learned through experience.
I am a skilled writer. I have always been able to express myself words. This has been a great
help thus far in my academic career as it has helped me to develop my own ideas and thoughts. I
think it will also be helpful to me as a teacher, as will my love for literature and reading.
Reading and writing are two skills that are essential in gaining an education. These skills are
necessary while studying other subjects. Through reading children are given examples and ideas
to build upon and through writing they learn how to organize and express their own thoughts.
My strength in reading and writing will help me as I teach others.
Another of my strengths is that I care about what I do. I have a determination to do well, and
because of that desire I have developed the ability to succeed. I am a hard worker and I learn
from my mistakes, as well from the examples of others. I am a natural problem solver. I think it
is best to come into a situation knowing it will be hard. In that way I am able to anticipate
problems and be prepared with solutions. When I have a task or a number of tasks set before me
I always take a little time to evaluate and determine the most efficient way for me to accomplish
what I need to do. This ability helped me immensely as an undergraduate student when I had to
divide my time between school, work and church responsibilities. The more I have to do, the
easier it is for me to organize everything into slots of time, and to make and meet goals. I work
well under pressure.
Determination is defiantly a strength that applies to the teaching profession as well as my
academic career, and I do have the ability to do well in whatever I put my mind to, but I truly
excel when I am passionate about something. Classes I have taken showed me this. I learned in
almost every class I took at UC Davis. But the classes that I remember, the ones that have stuck
with me, are the ones that I found myself completely engrossed in. It was in those classes that I
achieved the most growth. Passion is an excellent motivator; So the fact that I am passionate
about teaching is, I think, my greatest strength.
As I mentioned before, my initial reason for becoming interested in teaching was the eventual
goal of becoming a librarian in an elementary school. This is still a goal I wish to achieve.

However, in the meantime, I have other goals. After becoming a licensed teacher in Alaska, I
hope to continue to work in Alaska for a time. I believe that because of the diversity of the state
and its differences from other areas of the United States, teaching in Alaska will provide me with
unique experiences and insights that will help me wherever I teach.
This is part of the reason why attending UAF appeals to me. I believe that the more diverse the
experiences I have, the more prepared I will be to face future obstacles and challenges. I could
very well stay in Washington to achieve my goal of becoming a teacher, but then I never would
have lived in Alaska. I would loose the opportunity to learn about new cultures, to discover what
it is like to live in an entirely different climate, to see the Aurora Borealis, to go almost an entire
day without light and almost an entire night without darkness. I have always wondered what
these things are like.
However Alaskas allure is not the only thing that influenced my decision to apply for the
Elementary Post-Bac Licensure program. The program itself appeals to me for several reasons.
The structure of the program is unique. I have looked at other teaching programs and have not
found another which offers the opportunity to spend an entire school year with the same teacher
in the same class. I am a very hands-on learner, and I think that this set-up lends well to that. I
look forward to being able to experience a school year start to finish before I am actually
teaching on my own. I feel that for me personally this is the perfect preparation for becoming a
teacher; to be able to experience the school year with the guidance of a mentor teacher. I learn
things by doing them and I will be glad to be doing them for the first time with an experienced
teacher by my side.
Another aspect of the program that I like is its size. I went to a large University for my
undergraduate studies and the majority of my classes were in large lecture halls. I rarely had a
class with under a hundred students in it. Only once did I have a class with under fifty students.
The classes I enjoyed most were those smaller classes which were more conducive to
discussions and where a teacher-student learning relationship could flourish. I learn by actively
participating and by interacting with other students. That is hard to do in a lecture hall of about
three hundred. I look forward to forming closer relationships with professors and peers than I
have been able to have in the past.
I also have to admit another large factor that has influenced me in my decision to apply for this
program. This is the only program I have found which would allow me to begin my studies this
summer. I received my B.A. almost two years ago and I am anxious to get back to school. I do
not regret my time out of school. I was able to gain valuable experiences, some beneficial to my
teaching career, and others beneficial to other aspects of my life. One of the greatest things that
came out of my time away from school was my continued conviction to teach. I have had time to
think this through fully and now I am ready to move on and get started; and getting started just a
few months sooner than most other programs is certainly a major draw to UAF.
I truly believe that attending the University of Alaska, and subsequently teaching in Alaska, will
be of one the best experiences of my life. It will help me to achieve my goals and give me
experiences I could have no where else. I am impressed with the people I have already
interacted with, with the program and the location, and I hope to be further impressed.