To the Teachers Who Inspired Me

To you.  I know that you three will never read this, but it's to you.

As stated before, Math and Science did not come easily to me.  History was iffy also.  Of the top three teachers that made an impact in my life in Canfield Schools I can honestly say that they were in the following classes:

Eight Grade American History

Anatomy and Physiology

Statistics

The teachers in this class made it appropriately challenging.  They taught me that I could do it. They weren't the teachers that let me go to the computer lab and jack around, and inspiration and belief did not happen in "blow off classes".

Anatomy and Physiology along with Statistics are considered more advanced, so I'm not quiet sure how I got put in the position of being in those classes to begin with.  The teachers not only taught me that I could excel in these topics but that I could enjoy them. I always excelled in linguistically based things , but that didn't mean I actually enjoyed them.  

Not all science was questions based around what rocks look like, and not all math was inapplicable to everyday life.  

I never thought I could do math or science until I got to these classes.  The fundamentals of these classes taught me that I have to learn, and master, the basics of these things to fully understand the things that I actually like to study.  

I hope that I can be a teacher that teaches kids that there is more to learning than the tests, its more about finding what interests you, and how to you can love to learn.  

I want to equip them to handle the hard things in life with confidence.  Knowing that there is something better on the other side.


After comparing teachers in my life this quote comes to mind: 

"If I am walking with two other men, each of them will serve as my teacher. I will pick out the good points of the one and imitate them, and the bad points of the other and correct them in myself."

-Confucius 

"...but be transformed by the renewing of your mind"

Look at my report card starting in about forth grade and you will see nothing short of A's in English (and like subjects) and B's and C's in math and science.  So how in the world am I in the position that I am in college to teach high school science?!

I remember being in elementary school and having to go to a special tutor during free time to help me with simple multiplication problems.  "8 and 8 went in to a store to buy a Nintendo sixty-four..." and other like rhymes helped me fumble my way through elementary math lessons.  So again, how in the world am I now going to college to be a science teacher?

+++ I should probably mention that since math and science go together hand and hand I have to take through Calculus two.  +++

My high school math classes consisted of slowed down versions of the "real math classes" until my senior year.  I relied heavily on "homework" and "participation" points to get me through.

Hopefully, my lack of natural mathematical skills is showing through.  I wish I could be somebody that just "gets it" in the way that I "just get" reading and english, but I'm not.  It's somewhat comical to think about...the subjects that I'm best in do not interest me one bit anymore, but that that I struggle with draws me in.

Entering college I was unsure of what I wanted to do with my future degree in "exercise science".  All I knew is that I wanted to learn about the human body, and apply it in someway that involved no medicine. The revelation of being a teacher really happened in a single moment of conversation.

Suddenly, the undying want to teach flooded through my being.  There was few minor problems standing it the way....Calc,Calc 2,Physics 2, Organic Chemistry and so on and so forth.  How is it that the only thing I want to do with my life is something that I would have counted as impossible merely a few months ago ?  If you compare the "Integrated Science Secondary Education focus in Biology" list of requirements and classes with that of "Pre-med" at YSU there is very few differences.  I've never exactly reminded myself of somebody who would ever go that direction.

That direction was meant for the elite...it's meant for the ones who, "just get it".  A troubling thought is that because I am not one who "just gets it," will I be cutting the young adults I will be teaching short of his or her education?  Well, I can't answer that quiet yet.

The most interesting part is this: The subjects that I was most interested in and excelled in growing up really do not interest me much anymore, as I said earlier, they actually bore me.  Without a shadow of a doubt I think that Romans 12:2, "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will," does apply to me in a very specific way.  How else would my mind have been renewed and practically altered?  

To help those who don't "just get it".  That is the reigning anthem in my mind.

Every aspect of my math and science career has lead me up to this point.  The point of knowing that countless hours are going to need to be spent learning and absorbing information that I naturally don't understand, but I find myself highly interested in.

I really can't wait to take Physics.

So, here's to the kids who "don't just get it."  Let me promise you, if you trust in God, He will guide you.  I cannot type this and say, "math comes so easily to me now," because it doesn't.  Like many good things in life, it comes with time and hard work.

Although it's not what I was striving for this was my first semester GPA. Needless to say, only by God was I able to understand some of the math and chemistry involved in some of my classes. Only my trust in Him will guide me.