here once was a young maiden named Autumn. Her family lived in a quite large village. It twas close to a very vast ocean. When Autumn was little, she pondered what creatures may be lurking inside of the murky blue lagoon. Mermaids? Seahorses? Jellyfish? or even the infamous Loch Ness Monster? The possibilities became endless and chased Autumn away from the ocean forever. She feared the ocean, but she could never find herself straying from it. Her home has always been inside this crowded village, near that frightening water. However, she did not hate her village, she actually loved it! Many of her neighbors complain about how they never can receive proper sleep at night. There were always the sounds of loud clacks from horses pulling carriages and children playing in the street, yet Autumn always found somewhere quiet.
For most of her childhood, she kept to herself. Her stuffed animals and imagination were enough to keep her entertained for hours on end. Daydreaming in and out of conversations was nothing out of the ordinary for her. Although this was every parent's dream, it was every teacher's nightmare. During her early school years, her mentors would pull her aside to discuss collaborating with her fellow friends. She battled with this for years. Her palms began sweating and heart rate increased every time she spoke. Even with her friends, she was always nervous about each word that came out of her mouth. But, despite this, she did well in academics. While participating in group projects, she tended to do all of the work to save herself from communicating with others. Autumn was well known as the quiet, dark horse amongst her peers. Her social wariness was the cause of many years in isolation. However, this all changed when she met someone that changed her life forever.
Autumn was only eight years old when she met her favorite teacher. So far, through her academics, none of the teachers had the patience for her shyness. But, Mr. Greenbloom (an alias name) was the one that finally understood her behavior. Instead of ridiculing her, he made an effort to slowly get her to come out of her shell. Throughout the year, under his guidance, Autumn started raising her hand in class, made new friends, and even read a story in front of her class. Her parents were in utter shock by her improvement. Mr. Greenbloom made sure that she knew that her newly acquired skills could be carried with her outside of his classroom as well. She took this to heart, and even though she still got just as nervous before speaking, she knew what she was capable of and never looked back.
For the next two years she had amazing teachers to follow Mr. Greenbloom. Her openness and new found sense of curiosity, surely aided her in her academics as well.
One day, during her final year of elementary school, her teacher had a query for all of her students. The dreaded question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" that comes up in every child's youth. Upon hearing this, Autumn began to think long and hard about it. What did she want to be? A painter? A nurse? A fairy? No, she would've gotten her wings by now. But if not a fairy, then what? She spent weeks pondering her answer. What job would she love to do for the rest of her life?
"A teacher!" she exclaimed. Autumn jumped up and down with joy when she finally figured out her answer. The now ten year old girl had chosen what she wanted to become in the future. She knew that she wanted to make a difference in her village. While knowing this, she remembered who made the biggest difference in her life, her teachers. She reminisced about the stories they read, the celebrations they had, and the games they played during her school years. The way her teachers made learning fun and educational was eye-opening for Autumn. She knew from that day forward, she would start taking the steps to become like her mentors. Her first adventure was to learn how to help kids that faced the same problems as her.
It was no secret that Autumn struggled with socialization and focusing on her classwork. It wasn't until late high school where she discovered she has anxiety and ADHD. Upon learning this information, knowing that she would have children who were like her in her future classroom, she did research. She went to her local librarian, Googles, to search for excerpts on teaching students who had similar struggles to her. Along the way, she also learned about many other mental obstacles that many children have to deal with while in school and at home. She became very well versed in the different practices and approaches to teach these students and started educating her peers on it as well.
Although Autumn experienced these challenges, she knew that there were many obstacles that she would never have to face. Some of her friends were put into battle fields without metal armor. Some of them had to fight off terrifying beasts in order to eat dinner. Some of them were forced to live into a closet and feared ever leaving it. Perhaps worst of all, some of her friends were punished for the color of their scales. Many of these occurrences happened unbeknownst to Autumn. After learning about the hardships that millions of kids face at her age, she promised herself that she would make sure every person, from every background, felt safe in her classroom. Teaching her students cultural awareness and acceptance of one another was an essential part of her classroom. Instead of repressing their differences, she wanted them to learn how to embrace them. She understood firsthand and secondhand what it meant to have a supportive, understanding teacher. Creating a second home for her students became one of her top priorities, because she knew that many of them didn't have one to begin with.
Autumn knew about what environment she wanted to create for her future students, but she still had many things to learn to successfully do it. While on one of her adventures, she found a map. The map had a very cryptic message reading, "You are still learning. - D." Autumn wondered if this map belonged to the all-knowing lioness, Dominion. Her curiosity struck her and she decided to open the old map. As the pages turned by themselves, footprints followed behind them. Upon further investigation, Autumn concluded that the map was telling her things she must learn to continue her journey on the path to becoming a great teacher.
As she read through the map, she made a note of everything she wanted to learn about teaching her future students effectively. Through this process she created her own definition of the purpose of school. "School should be for allowing students to experience self-discovery. Giving students the opportunity to learn from and speak with people from other backgrounds is essential to their learning. Not only this, but students should be able to learn the fundamentals of education to aid the process of figuring out what they want to be when they grow up. Not every child will be a math prodigy, or an artist, or a mythical beast. But, every student should be given the same opportunity to learn and have their specific needs met as much as possible." Autumn knew that if she told a fish and a crow to fly, only one would succeed. She vowed to make sure that all of her students would be treated equally and would give help to the ones who needed it the most, inside the classroom and out.
"I will become a teacher that makes time to have one-on-one meetings with my students to ensure they are understanding the material. I will create a classroom where group discussions are a must, and where communication is taught and prioritized. Students in my classroom will not only learn the foundations of knowledge, but they will also know how to discover their own interests and opinions on their own!" Autumn exclaimed this from the rooftops of her already loud village, for anyone who would listen to her. "The lioness, Dominion, has taught me about the philosophies of education. Progressivism and social constructivism will be used in my teachings for years to come!" And just like that, the once timid, nervous girl, became something she never thought would be possible.