My season of change and lessons learned!

     I am often asked why would I want to go into teaching with all the changes going on and with the pay so low right now. I struggle to know how to answer that question as I am often asking myself the same thing. The last two years have been one change after another. I have often sat back and wondered if I have yet learned all that I needed to know so that this journey may end. The answer is a big NO! I started out over twenty years ago as an Agriculture Education major but did not finish due to marriage and children. I often thought of going back to finish but had one excuse after another. Now all these years later, circumstances have made it necessary to go back to school to get some sort of education so that I may provide for my children and myself. I had  done some substituted in all grade levels and have worked full time in elementary education for the past 10 years where I  made the discovery that I had no desire to teach middle or high school students. However, I did discover that I loved working with the younger ages, especially Kindergarten age. I also discovered that I enjoyed working with the students with learning difficulties as well as having a daughter with some mild disabilities and having had to be her advocate over the years. I was not sure that I wanted to teach though. I had heard to  many teachers talk about all the changes coming and how horrible the pay was so I kept trying to think of what else I could go back to school for. My heart keeps bringing me back to teaching elementary children even when my mind is telling me to run the other way. I love working with the little ones and seeing their beautiful smiles each day. I love being an example to them and knowing that they have at least one person that cares about them in their life. Many children do not have that. I want them to know that they have a safe place to come to each day. That I will listen, comfort, love, guide, and teach them. I want to be that advocate for them when they are struggling to learn and need someone to notice that they need an extra boost in a direction that can help them learn. I can't save the world or change all the mess in it, but I can try to make a difference in one child's life and help him or her believe that he /she is a wonderful, capable, beautiful person too.
     So, this is the reason I have decided to become an elementary education teacher with an emphasis in special education. Along this path of discovery and change, I have learned to grow and expand myself. I have learned that I can go without sleep for days, my children will survive if not fed big home-cooked meals each night, and my brain will not explode due to stress and overload! Somehow I survive each semester and take one more giant step toward that day when my season of teaching will finally be in front of me. I can't wait to see how I learn and grow from that experience!