About the Author

I received my Associates of Arts degree from Valencia College. I recently returned back to college where I am currently a Junior at Old Dominion University, majoring in Elementary Education. I decided to finish my degree to show my own children that it is never too late to fulfill your dreams. I am a Teaching Assistant at a private school in Virginia Beach.

I have been married to my husband for 21 years and we have two children, a son who is 19 and also a college student at ODU and a daughter, who is 16 and a Junior in High School.

In my downtime, I love reading, watching foreign movies, traveling and spending time with my family.

What I know

I have learned many things about planning, time management and how to present a lesson. While those are good skills to know, showing compassion and empathy to children is a skill that must be acquired in order to be an effective teacher. You can know the most about a subject, but unless a student feels like you are invested in their learning, and in them as a person, you will never be able to be the type of teacher that can really change a life.

I know this, because I was once a student in elementary school who was far behind in reading and math. I was unable to do almost basic math and was two grades behind in reading comprehension. I was placed in "remedial" classes because my scores were so low. I found that I had two types of teachers in these classes, the teachers who truly cared about helping me get caught up and the teachers who figured I would never amount to much. I found that the teachers who really showed they cared about my education and about how I was feeling and doing, really helped propel me to want to do better and work harder. The teachers who lacked compassion, made me feel like a failure. Witnessing this first hand, helped me to know that care and concern from a teacher can give students a drive to succeed.