Throwback Thursday! Memory Lane

Howdy Ya'll! Today's post is going to be a quick walk down memory lane. I'm linking up with The Teaching Tribune once again to share a bit more with you in this week's Throwback Thursday. We all have interesting stories as to how we came to know the fact that we wanted to be an educator. I love sharing and talking with other teachers about what it was that inspired them to teach in the first place. And I also want to share a slightly embarrassing, very 90's photo with you as well!

As you all know, I'm a third grade teacher. My kiddoes each year love to learn that I too was once a third grader and that I attended the same school where they are attending. The also love to laugh at the photo you see below! (Don't Laugh...Perms were all the rage in the 90's) It was horrendous but they still laugh hysterically!

To tell you the truth, I never (NOT EVER) even considered teaching while growing up. My aspirations were held tight to the medical field. My mother even has writings that I did in Kindergarten where I said I wanted to be a doctor. I find it strange how things changed, and how quickly the changeover happened.

Considerations for becoming a teacher did not begin until I was in high school, and they weren't born from a love of teaching, or even a love of learning--I was lazy and did the bare minimum to keep my grades. I also had some major attitude problems, behavior problems, and was downright horrible to my mother, my teachers, and everyone around me. Things took a turn for the worse, and I myself landed right smack dab in the middle of juvenile hall as a runaway. I did my few days of time, it scared me straight, and I decided that I had to figure things out or else I was going to end up right back there.  Going back to school was rough, I failed classes, had alienated what few friends I had, and most of my teachers had given up on me. Except for one..and she wasn't even a teacher...but a parapro. That woman took me under her wing and truly changed my life. From the time I came back to school, there wasn't a day that passed that she encouraged me, tried for me, and worked with me to make things right. For the remainder of my high school career, I held straight A's, made up the classes I had failed, held a full time job, and learned to respect others and MYSELF. 

There is not a cute and cuddly store that led me to my profession. I didn't work in a daycare, or have lots of younger siblings, or babysit, or work in my church nursery. One woman changed all of that for me. She signed me up for scholarships, paid for my SATs out of her own pocket, and was definitely my cheering section at all events. I ended up graduating with a 3.9 G.P.A. and it was then when I realized the difference that she had made with me. And it inspired me to do the same. I want to be the teacher who takes in a horrendous child from a bad situation and helps him or her turn their life around just by showing them who really cares.

And that's it folks...not cuddly, not cute, but that's how I landed in this field and I have never regretted doing it. I teach because I love it, I love my kids, and I want to help them grow.