I Am Determined to Become the Best Educator I Can Be :: Personal Narrative Writing

I Am Determined to Become the Best Educator I Can Be School had a large impact on my life. Until I was eighteen, I did not experience education in the traditional sense. My homeroom was my bedroom; I had economics in the kitchen and science class was often held outside. I studied the usual subjects: math, reading, science, history, and English. I also studied some non-traditional subjects: Bible, canning, sewing, and cooking. My mother taught me to love reading. My father taught me how to find answers to my questions, and my siblings taught me how to explain concepts in a way they could understand. Being taught at home offered me experiences that I would not have received if I had attended a traditional school. Unlike children who attended traditional schools, I was around my mother, siblings, and other adults all the time. While I did have friends my own age, I interacted mostly with adults. Because my school schedule was flexible, often I found myself helping an elderly person with yard work or cleaning. My father's boss asked my brother and I to help sort cattle or watch gates when the pens were being cleaned during the morning and afternoon. My mother taught me until I reached junior high and then my father took over. He assigned the subjects my brother and I would study for the year, bought our textbooks, and helped review for and grade our tests. But we were responsible to make our lesson plans and finish our textbooks within the school year. At the beginning of a school year, I would find out how many sections or chapters a textbook had. Then I would figure out how many sections or chapters I would have to complete each week to finish the book. At the beginning of every week, I wrote in a day-planner what sections I was to cover on what day. At a traditional school a teacher would do this for his or her students. Making my lesson plans while still in high school has prepared me for making lesson plans for my students when I become an elementary teacher. The area I lived in, Greeley, Colorado, has a strong agricultural base. My house was only ten or fifteen minutes from downtown Greeley; however, my father worked at a dairy farm and we had many friends in the agricultural world. Because our school schedule was flexible, my brother was able to work for a sheep rancher and learn mechanical and animal husbandry skills.