My name is Maggie Currin and I am a junior at Old Dominion University. I am 22 years old and I live in Williamsburg, VA. I am the oldest of two and grew up in a loving, caring household environment and hope to carry on those traits to my future students and family of my own one day.

As soon as I graduated high school, I attended Radford University but soon came to realize this was not where I was meant to be. After spending just a semester there, I transferred back home and attended the nearby community college while trying to figure out my purpose in life. I went back and forth a few times going from working full time to being a student full time however I always knew I wanted a career that gave back to my community in some sort of way which is why I began to fall in love with the idea of becoming an educator. As a teacher, I want my students to know that life is not a race and that no matter how long and discouraging life can be at times, everything eventually falls into place.

• Children spend the majority of their week in a classroom.

I know that as a teacher the children in your classroom spend more time with you than with their family members at home. I know that making sure each individual child feels safe, cared for, and protected at school is just as important as them feeling those things in their household.

• Every child learns differently.

I know that not all children are the same. As a teacher I know the importance of adapting to your students needs and teaching the information so that every student receives it to the best of their abilities. Being able to teach topics in a variety of different ways is a skill I know is important to obtain as an educator.

• Children may not want to be at school all of the time.

I would be lying if I said all students love school-the reality is most children do not particularly want to be in the classroom the majority of the week. I know students may not want to learn, but as an educator I know how important it is to make the classroom as enjoyable as possible so that learning is fun for students. I know the importance of having control of your classroom, but as a teacher it is important to allow your students to feel like they are allowed to let loose and enjoy themselves when appropriate.

• I know that teamwork and learning to work with others is an important skill to have as a teacher.

Every occupation requires you to learn teamwork and it is something necessary to incorporate into your daily routine as an educator. I know that there are several instances being a teacher where you will be required to work with other teachers, parents, and other individuals in order to ensure students are learning as best as possible.

• I still need to learn how to be more patient. As a teacher, everyday brings something new and there will be days that are going to be tougher than others. Learning to be patient and allowing things to fall into place is something I definitely need more practice with.

• I still need to improve my time management skills. Being a teacher I know I will have many things on my plate at once, so it is very important to know how to prioritize and even multitask at times.

• I need to learn how to not be afraid to ask for help. I have always been an independent type of individual and have tried to do almost everything on my own when help is desperately needed making everything 10x worse. As a teacher it is important to realize when you may need help from coworkers and that is something I still need practice with.

• The teacher that every student can come to for anything and everything whether it is school related or something more personal.

• The teacher that allows her students to be open-minded in the classroom and encourages them to stand out and be different.

• The teacher that is not judgmental of her students and loves everyone for who they are inside and out.

• The teacher that will never give up on her students.

• The teacher that is willing to put in the extra work and be fully devoted to her students in and out of the classroom.

• The teacher that is always open to new ideas and suggestions from coworkers or parents.

• The teacher that will be supportive of all aspirations and dreams of my students.

Hi Maggie, I am also the oldest of 2!! I have one little brother. -Rylee Moss

Hey Maggie! I'm also from Williamsburg and the oldest sibling. I enjoyed going through your page as well as watching the video that you've provided about the importance of teamwork. I also agree about needing to learn patience. The field that we are choosing to work in definitely requires a lot of the two criteria's. - K Holloway

Hey Maggie! I love Williamsburg I actually am from about 2 hours from there a town called Tappahannock. I totally agree about having a lot of patience when working with children. - Megan Belden

Hi Maggie, I like that you recognize that students may struggle to concentrate in the classroom strictly because they do not want to be there. You know that students spend so much time at school, that it can affect their motivation to learn. By incorporating lessons that grasps your students attention, they may not dread going to school as much. -- Valerie Lieske

Hi Maggie! I agree that patience is an important thing to have when working with children. Everyday students are going to test you and push you to your limits. I also try to remember when working with my students that I have to have patience, though sometimes it is really hard. - Morgan Wilson

Hi Maggie! I was really interested by the fact and thought that kids spend majority of their time at school. This is not something I considered and encourages me even more to strive to be the teacher my kids will look forward to seeing during their school day.- Jedara Reyes