Erin Curtis
September 3, 2011
EDCI 5724
Educational Autobiography
Many people think learning only happens in the classroom but I have loved
learning since before I was in school. My parents, having both been college graduates
themselves, were very big believers in encouraging their children to be whatever they
wanted; for me this was mostly nerdy things like marine archaeologist, that guy from
Jurassic Park, or a character from one of my favorite books. My family was always a
learning-centered household – whether my dad was trying to teach us physics before we
could walk or my grandfather was speaking to us only in Spanish to help us learn another
language – and while it was never “expected” that we would go to college, my sister and
I never thought we wouldn’t. All these factors, plus the thousands of other ones that have
occurred during the past twenty-two years, have led me to this point of wanting to
become a teacher and share this same feeling with my future students.
As I said, my family is very into education. My aunt and grandmother were both
teachers (high school ESL and both high school English and ESL for Adults,
respectively), my uncle holds at least one Ph.D in foreign relations or political science
and taught at several universities around the country, my cousin is a professor of
Molecular Biology at the University of Wyoming, and the list goes on. The constant
presence of very educated people was a good influence on both my sister and I as we
grew up and tried to be just like our family members. While neither of us took to my
dad’s preferred areas of study (math, science, physics, everything horrible in the world of
education), I especially enjoyed English and History as a kid. I got archaeology and
history magazines in the mail and checked out books from the library with the help and
encouragement from my parents and other family members. By the time I entered
elementary school I already had a deep love of learning: I was an above average reader
for my age, I was more or less bilingual, and I loved learning. This quickly changed when
I started elementary school.
I don’t remember much about the early years of elementary school but what I
remember most is that they were boring. Teachers focused mainly on math and English
but when you struggled in math they weren’t helpful and when you were ahead in reading
and English they told you to slow down. The only thing I remember about history is that
it suddenly became almost unbearable to “learn.” Teachers in early elementary school
made history excruciatingly boring and if I hadn’t loved it before I started school I would
have definitely hated it. Luckily in fifth grade we got to go on a class field trip to
Jamestown and Williamsburg, which partially restored my faith in learning history
through school.
Middle school once again tore down my interest in history by making it as
horrifically boring as possible. While there was one teacher in the school who turned his
classroom into World War I trenches and was the talk of the entire school, the others
mostly made history agonizing. Between forcing us to repeat the Bill of Rights or
Emancipation Proclamation until we memorized it or lecturing in a bored voice, teachers
in middle school seemed as uninterested in teaching us as we became about learning.
While I still read and talked with my parents about historical events outside of class, even
my history grades started slipping in middle school. Middle school teachers made history
so torturous it’s a wonder anyone likes it at all by the time they get to high school. It
seemed like the teachers came in, put in their hours, and left; they weren’t interested in
making the information interesting, they just wanted to drill it into us so we would pass
our SOLs and make them look good. This left a bad impression on me and despite
continuing to read and learn outside of class, I definitely began rethinking history as an
interesting subject.
Freshmen year of high school was a disaster as far as history was concerned; my
teacher’s catchphrase of the year was “this is pretty cut and dry.” I will never remember
anything Mr. Barlow was talking about except – “well, Gilgamesh is pretty cut and dry,”
or “Mesopotamia is a pretty cut and dry topic,” or “Hammurabi's Code is pretty cut and
dry.” Everything that used to be interesting and exciting quickly became pretty cut and
dry. After this I more or less gave up on history; obviously these people hated what they
were teaching (Mr. Barlow had to teach Ancient World History in addition to his
Psychology classes) and didn’t care if we enjoyed learning about it or not. Luckily this
was all information I had read about for years so I did well, but it required almost no
attention on my part and I was happy to oblige. I had just about given up on history
classes when I suddenly ran across a teacher who appeared interested in what she was
doing. Ms. Schneider was a first year teacher, although we didn’t find that out until the
end of the year, and while her class was certainly challenging, that’s what made it
interesting. Learning about World War I and II is what kick started my interest in what I
like to call school history. Outside of class I had mainly focused my attention on ancient
history – Ancient Greece and Rome, especially mythology, medieval Europe, things like
that. But with the introduction of the World Wars, I was interested in what my teacher
was telling me again, something I hadn’t felt for quite some time. I had always had an
interest in other cultures, mostly I found US history boring, and this was a great way to
learn about other people that I knew nothing about. This is also when I realized that
grades mattered to get into college and as I was getting interested in history classes again
I was also getting in gear for college. While I was never a bad student by any means, I
was also never a great student – I had to work very hard to get good grades and between
disinterest, extracurriculars, and lack of motivation I was earning an even mix of A’s and
B’s. Beginning my sophomore year however, I began earning mostly A’s; I decided that I
could learn more about these things I found so interesting if I worked hard and went to a
good school and that the only way to get there was to work for it.
My junior year proved both extremely challenge and rewarding. I took my first
AP class that year, US History, and while I struggled with the material I worked hard
because I wanted to continue to a good school and because I had a great teacher. Mrs.
Alison still is one of my favorite educators I’ve ever had – she held you accountable for
your work and set me in the right direction to achieve my goals. One of the most helpful
skills I learned in Mrs. Alison’s class was how to study effectively. As homework every
night, you had to outline half a chapter for class the next day and while some students
found this tedious, this was the most useful skill I learned as it not only forced to me
thoroughly read the text, but I committed it to memory by writing it down. While this is
no longer practical in a time of a new 600 page book every week, I used this strategy all
the way through my first semester of grad school and I’m more than happy with the
grades I got. Mrs. Alison is one of the people I use as a standard of who I want to be as a
teacher; she came in early and stayed late to help people who were struggling, she made
in-depth study guides before our AP exam as well as bringing in breakfast for us before
the test. She is a caring teacher who put her students first and made them want to learn
more even though not everyone likes history.
While my history learning experience within the school system was not
necessarily one that you would hope for, it did teach me some very valuable lessons that I
will carry with me hopefully throughout my entire teaching career. I learned that if you’re
not interested in what you are teaching, your students won’t be either; students will easily
pick up your emotions as a teacher and they will reflect those feelings back at you.
I learned that making a class challenging, not impossible but something that the
students need to work for, could often be an incentive for them to become interested in
the topic and grow an appreciation for your content area. I also learned that no matter
what a student has gone through in school, all it takes is one or two good teachers to get
them excited about learning and to motivate them to do great things. When students feel
their teachers actually want them to learn and do well, they will do better in their classes,
not just the one they feel inspired by.
Along with a challenging class, another important aspect of teaching is making
sure you are helping a wide range of students succeed in your classroom. While I learned
best by reading and writing information down, I recognize that not all students are this
way and may work better under other conditions. This is one of the most important things
to keep in mind when creating lesson plans for your class so you don’t alienate a portion
of the class by only doing certain activities because you like them.
Most importantly, I also discovered that learning and education don’t only happen
in schools and that is a great thing. Encouraging students to continue learning outside of
class if they are interested in a topic you don’t have time to talk about thoroughly in class
will help them become more interested in school. However, this is an ideal situation and I
recognize that not all students will be as lucky as I was to grow up in a middle class
family who didn’t have to worry about where their next paycheck was coming from and I
didn’t have to work until I was in college. Not everyone will be this fortunate to receive
the same support both financially and mentally that I was privileged to and this is why
teachers must help their students in every way while they are physically at school.
Learning what works best for your students will help them while they are in your class
and may allow them to retain this information better no matter what is going on in their
lives outside of school.
While I was extremely lucky to grow up in a nurturing family environment that
fostered my learning and provided support when I needed it, not every child’s learning
experience will be so helpful. Because not all students will receive this support from
home, oftentimes the teacher will have to provide extra encouragement for these students
before or after school to help them with concepts they don’t understand or to nurture their
desire to learn. Actions such as these would have made my learning experience as a child
more welcoming despite my support from home so for a student who doesn’t receive any
support from their family this could be monumental. Putting extra effort into your
students can make a huge difference in their lives and can make them enjoy learning
where they otherwise may not have taken their education seriously.
Personal Teaching Metaphor Part I
My classroom is like a museum and I am its curator. I share the stories of the past
with my students in an effort to encourage their interest in different stories. I foster a
learning environment in my classroom just like a curator encourages their patrons to dive
into an exhibit or book and let their imagination run free. My students know that they
have access to a wealth of historical knowledge in my classroom just like a student can
walk into a museum and check out a display on any topic they want to learn about. I am
like a museum curator because I lead my students around the world and through time
without leaving the building by just discussing information with them. They are like
patrons because while I know they will leave at the end of the day, I know they will be
back to learn more soon.
This I Believe Statement
I believe teachers are integral parts of their students’ lives whether they want to be
or not. Students remember their good teachers and their bad ones, they remember who
helped them before school to pass their final exam and who blew them off because they
didn’t want to come in early. I believe that teachers should help their students achieve
anything they want to achieve and learn anything their heart desires. I believe students
should be able to look up to their teachers and want to be just like them one day. I believe
teachers have the ability to change the direction of a student’s life and make them go
from dispassionate and uninterested to excited and high achieving. Teachers have the
ability to change the world one child at a time and they need to recognize that they can
change them for either the positive or the negative so they must be careful to be good role
models. I believe that I will be a good teacher who helps her students achieve what they
want to achieve and succeed beyond their wildest dreams. I believe that I have the ability
to change a child’s life for the better because they were in my class. I believe that
children are our future so we should not write them off as lazy and disinterested but
instead look at ourselves to see what we can do better. This I Believe.