My long and winding road to teaching

It's crazy to think I was a high school student without a real direction, aside from working at the same grocery store chain as my parents and brother. I, too, had been working there since I was 15. No one in my family had ever gone to college, and they didn't understand the purpose of spending so much money for a college degree. "Why would you want to leave a job where you have benefits and are in the union?" my mom often asked. I wasn't sure, but I knew I loved learning and wanted to stay in school.

After attending community college, which was more in my budget than a four-year college, I earned my associate's degree and then headed off to Loyola University Chicago.

A four-year degree and six months in Italy, courtesy of Loyola! 

Why Loyola? Basically so I could continue working at the grocery store, as well as waitressing, working retail and being a teller at a bank. These jobs, along with scholarships and grants, allowed me to graduate with my BA, with a focus on communication, and spend a semester abroad in Rome, connecting with my culture.

A few years were spent working in public relations and then in creating and implementing training programs for a bank, but I had an itch that needed scratching. Despite never being pushed to read, study or learn from family, I loved being in the classroom, and had made some sweet connections with teachers throughout my education. I decided I wanted to teach, and hopefully transfer the love I had always had for learning to others.

DePaul University and the Glenview Public Schools had a wonderful program where a person would devote three years to work in Glenview and they would cover the expense of earning a Master's degree in Education. The interview process was intense! It was in the superintendent's office, with three heavy wooden tables set in a u formation and 12 people sitting around it with the seat at the head of the table open for me. They all introduces themselves - people in various roles in the district and DePaul professors. I am horrible with remembering names so I was a bit overwhelmed and wondered how I would ever be able to write a thank you note for the interview! The questions flew fast and I left with my head spinning, having no real idea if I was what they were looking for in a candidate.

Apparently, I was what they were looking for, and my teaching career began.

Where the teaching began...

The cool part of the program was that for the first year, I was in classrooms at almost every grade level from K-8. This allowed me to get a feel for which level appealed to me. Fifth grade was a good fit and I spent two years in my very own fifth grade classroom.

I have since been in many classrooms and have found that there is something fun, engaging and challenging at each grade level I've taught. Over the past twenty years I've worked with kindergarteners, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th graders in two countries and three districts and became Nationally Board Certified along the way. Kids, no matter their age or background, are amazing! I feel fortunate to get to work with them and help shape their experiences and thinking, as well as impact families through my communication home and during conferences.

The teaching profession has taken some lumps lately, but teachers need to remember the path that brought them to the classroom,  the experiences that shaped their decision to be a teacher and all of the lives they impact on a daily basis. Those are the reasons we become teachers - the best job in the world.

Thank you, DePaul, for bankrolling my Master's degree and allowing me to enter the field of education!

I currently teach kindergarten part-time so that I can be home by the time school gets out for my own two boys. I enjoy spending time with them - biking, playing games, reading together, camping and cheering on their athletic endeavors. When not being around the children in my class or my own kids, I enjoy spending time with my husband, reading books and being in book groups, traveling to new places, finding recipes and cooking and seeing plays.