I love stories. I really love hearing people share stories of their lives. I remember quite vividly my kindergarten teacher telling us little stories about when she was young, when she got bit by a scary fish in Cuba. I also remember sitting in my grandmother’s lap while she told me stories of the “olden days” and the “dirty ’30s”, when they only got one pair of socks every year at Christmas.

Here’s my story.

I come from a family of teachers. My paternal grandmother, my father, my mother, my step-father, and my sister are all elementary school teachers/principals. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, they say.

Family portrait I made in grade 1 (the circle is my sister’s face I decided to erase…)

Teaching has always been a part of my life. I remember spending hours after school in my mom’s classroom, waiting for her to finish marking/planning. I remember helping my dad out during the summer reorganizing things in his school, watering the trees in the back of the school with my siblings. School is where I have always felt comfortable.

In elementary school, I wanted to be a teacher just like my parents. In grade 5, my best friend and I started a science club (we were, of course, the only members) and we had plans of traveling the world while teaching children about the wonders of science.

In high school, however, I thought I wanted to work in business “when I grew up”. After all, it sounded much more glamorous! I tutored several students throughout high school, working with students from grades 2-12, and I remember truly enjoying it. I loved helping students and seeing them make enormous progress. Still, when people would say “You are going to be a teacher just like your parents” I would shake my head and say I wanted to go in business, although I did not quite know what that meant.

When I went to UBC for my undergraduate degree, I felt lost and I did not really know what to do. I took many courses, leading me here and there, and I ended up with a double major in French and Psychology. Throughout my degree, I worked in a 9-5 office job, making photocopies, scanning documents, having meetings, and sitting all day in an office chair. The business world was certainly not as I had imagined it would be in high school.

Partway through my B.A., I realized there was no other profession that I could be…the truth is, as corny as it might sound, I was absolutely meant to be a teacher. Even though I had pushed the idea away in my late teens, when I stopped to reflect on where I was going with my life, I realized that being a teacher would allow me to combine my strengths, my skills, my interests, and my passions. I am thrilled to be entering this wonderful profession!

Throughout this B.Ed. program at UBC, I have spent a lot of time reflecting on my own experiences in education and I have realized that my experiences in both elementary and secondary school shape who I am as an educator. I remember my grade 4 teacher, Annie, was so engaging and we respected her tremendous amounts because she respected us. She would share stories about her daily life with us (stories about her cat or getting lost in Montréal). This has influenced my teaching style and I believe in sharing my stories of childhood with my students to make learning more meaningful. I also remember being humiliated by a teacher in high school, a very negative memory that I will not soon forget and that I carry with myself as I teach to make sure I always treat my students kindly and with respect.

I never had one single “Eureka!” moment when I realized that I had to be a teacher, it happened rather gradually, or perhaps I always knew. If I had to choose one recent personal experience that has impacted the type of teacher I am, it would be here at UBC during my B.A.. In my first and second years, I felt lost in my enormous classes and I felt like I didn’t matter, that I was just a number. I was on what could be called a losing streak mentality. I figured, “Why bother trying? I’m just not very smart”. In my third year, I had a professor who changed my academic life. She believed in me! She was warm and approachable and she treated me with respect. I ended up getting an A+ in her class and my confidence soared and my average soared along with it! This experience made me realize that it is very important to show students you care and you believe in them. Perhaps the students who are struggling in your class are simply stuck in a losing streak and they need you to believe in them and their abilities.

All of my own experiences shape who I am becoming as a teacher and they will continue to influence me in my career.