My Autobiographical Paper

The Impacts That Have Led Me To Where I Am Now

Figuring out what I wanted to do after high school was an easy decision for me. It has always been my dream to become a teacher, preferably at a small-town school. However, my experiences throughout my childhood and school career solidified my decision to become an elementary teacher. I always felt like more of a teacher or parental figure to my younger sister than I ever felt like her sister. I grew up in the very small town of Cudworth, Saskatchewan, and I attended school there from kindergarten to grade 12. When you go to a small-town school, the teachers often have smaller class sizes, allowing them to develop closer connections with their students and, therefore, significantly impact their students’ lives. 

I was often called overly emotional throughout elementary school. I would often be sad or cry if others were sad or hurt. My play-school and grade three teachers told my mom it was because I was younger than my classmates and, therefore, was less mature and unable to control my emotions. They said I just had to grow up and that I was not ready for school. My mom knew this was not the case as she had trouble keeping me entertained at home all day. My kindergarten and grade 1 teachers were much better as they accepted that I had more emotions than the other kids and did not try to tell my mom that she put me in school too early or that I was just not supposed to be soft-hearted. I have also always been an anxious person, even from a very young age. I would stress about accidentally breaking a rubber band that the teacher gave me or forgetting my planner one day out of the whole year. Some of my teachers knew how to deal with that, and others did not. Once I hit middle school, it turned into test anxiety, later into social anxiety in high school. Some of my teachers were excellent at encouraging, calming me down, and teaching me how to handle my emotions. These teachers were a big part of why I loved school and learning as a child. 

I was always one of the brighter students in my class. However, once I made it to high school, I was often sitting in class bored out of my mind waiting for everyone else to catch on or finish their assignments. I remember one specific day when I only spent half an hour out of the five hours of class time doing actual classwork. The rest of the time I spent roaming the hallways, reading, or working on homework. I was so incredibly bored the whole day, and I just wanted to go home. I never want students to sit bored in class as I had to; it made me start to dread going to class. 

Teaching others has always been a passion of mine. I was often helping the other students in my class better understand the material we were learning because I was the smart one. Our teacher was also not very good at explaining the material to people who had no prior knowledge. So I helped people quite regularly, and I was pretty good at explaining the stuff to the different people in ways they could each understand. When we went into lockdown because of COVID-19, I would send videos explaining questions to my classmates, and I was very excited to do it too. Teaching the younger dancers in my dance club was another thing I loved to do. I also was able to help in the grade one classroom in my school, which, again, was one of my favorite things to do. 

Being I was the older sibling in my family, I had more responsibilities. I had to help out more than my younger sister because she was too little to do many things. Since I was older, I had to babysit my sister, which meant I was responsible for her well-being. I often took on a parental role in her life. Along with a parental role, I took on the part of teaching her things. Now that we are older, she gets mad at me for trying to help and parent her. For me, it is just a habit from my childhood. My mom says I took on these roles because of my mother hen-type personality. That is partly true, but I also believe that I was somewhat forced into the roles. I am not complaining about it though, I have a stronger bond with my sister because of it, and it has reinforced my desire to become a teacher.  

 I want to be like the teachers who impacted me positively, and I want to do things better than the teachers I resented. I have always known in my heart that being a teacher and making a difference in future generations’ lives is something that I was meant to do. I want to make a difference in the lives of my students like my teachers did for me. I also want to make sure that my students have a better experience than I did. I am excited to begin my journey to becoming a teacher and cannot wait until I am teaching a class of my own.

* This assignment was completed in the Fall 2021 Semester for ECS 101 *