Autobiography

My interest in teaching has been with me for a very long time and it began to develop once I graduated from high school. Before I became interested in teaching my interest in social studies started, and that was in Jr. High because of one of my teachers I had in grades 7 – 9. The teacher I had created a really strong interest in history for me and because of that I began to do much better in social studies and it led me to start thinking of social studies as something I would like to continue doing. Sports were also a really big part of me becoming a teacher and this is because of the many different types of coaches that I experienced and because of my experiences when coaching myself.

As far as sports are concerned my experience with other coaches is what led me to get into coaching and to begin working with young athletes to help them enjoy the sport as well as excel at it. One of my most transforming moments was when I played baseball and had a coach that really didn’t work for me. It was my last year of baseball that I played and I ended up in the pitching rotation with the coaches son. This caused a conflict of interest for the coach and began to really frustrate me as the season went on and I missed out on starts that I believed I deserved and had earned. The bad experience with the coach in this scenario caused my desire to play the sport to decrease and by the end of the season I had decided that I was no longer going to be playing baseball at any level. Hockey on the other hand was a very positive experience for me with all of my coaches and I believe that is a big reason that I still play the sport today. I always had a very positive relationship with my coaches in hockey and it really helped me grow as a player and grow to really enjoy the sport. Because of these two different experiences I decided that I wanted to pursue coaching so I could make a positive impact on athletes and try and make them stick to the sports that I loved playing.

Once I was in High-School, i had discovered that I really enjoyed Social Studies and that I wanted to make sure that I would be able to work with it in some way when I grew up. My other interest was in Physical Education. When I applied to university however I decided on a History degree because of how much I enjoyed the content. Because I was in History I wanted to have another degree that would make it easier to get a job and the two choices I was deciding between were Law and Education. Education was the choice I picked because of how much I had enjoyed coaching and because I could continue coaching and enjoying sport as part of my job as an educator. Because of these many reasons I found myself in education and there is nothing I would change about my choice.