Why education?!

            Art was always a calming, natural passion of mine growing up. I was given my very first sketch pad at four years old along with my own set of pencils and remember jumping with joy at the idea that I could draw whatever and whenever I wanted. I would run to my older sister’s room at six in the morning and beg her to draw or paint or sculpt with me. After she kicked me out so she could sleep a bit longer, we would paint and draw portrait masterpieces on her walls, create and paint our ceramic pieces made, and go on nature walks through our neighborhood to get inspiration and ideas. I was always interested in how a piece of art was made and the various mediums that embodied it. I remember my mom taking me the Metropolitan Museum of Art at a very young age and I specifically remember her giving me a disposable camera one day in Central Park after a day of wandering at the museum, running from one huge blossomed tree to the next looking for different creatures, shadows and leaves to photograph. Throughout high school, I took various Advanced Placement art classes and eventually decided to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in art at the University of Rhode Island. The various classes and projects were inspiring and unquestionably gratifying, but I had a sense that a piece to the puzzle was missing. Yes, I was good at art and I loved it, but something was missing in the midst of it all. I had the idea of going back to school for my masters to become an art teacher. However, when I came home that summer, after talking to many family friends of mine who work in public schools, came to the conclusion that a job as solely an art teacher was hard to come by. With that idea in mind, I decided to switch gears from art to general and special education, thinking that I would somehow and someway incorporate art into my daily routine.

Thinking back however, I always wanted to be that person in front of the classroom. At the young age of six and being the bossy and aggressive kid I was, I naturally forced my timid and at the time obedient twin sister to sit at the make-believe desk and "do her homework", take the fake tests, and remind her to raise her hand when needing to go to the bathroom. She wasn't the only person I subjected this madness to. Friends would come over and "school" was the first game we would play, whether they liked it or not. We would take blank pieces of paper and make fictitious names along with absurd scribble scrabble as their 'tests', lay them out and ‘grade’ them, and even sometimes send the ‘bad kids’ into timeout! Our world of “school” was filled with

I also come from a family of educators. My mother and Aunt are teacher’s assistant for special education classrooms, my older sister is a paralegal in Staten Island and my twin sister is a special educator in DC. My twin Sarah, completed Teach For America and worked her way up to being the Special Education Coordinator at her Charter School. She has been a successful and motivating mentor for me during my time here at Touro along with aiding me with advice and knowledge in the classroom.  Not only has she been asked to speak at multiple TFA events over the last few years, but she was also asked to come back to teach fellow TFA students as well. Her successes rapidly and encouragingly inspire me to keep working hard for the career and future I want in education. I have learned that if you keep working hard and learn from your past mistakes and experiences, you can and will go far.

I am so proud and beyond thrilled that I have chosen to get my Masters in general and special education. Over the last few years I have worked with a number of children with disabilities, some more serious than others, and have found that I have a love for helping them achieve their goals, watching them succeed and overcome their obstacles. Working with children with Autism has been something I have learned that I thoroughly enjoy doing. I have found that connecting a student’s fixation and/or  area of interest with their academics can be a huge motivational factor to their success. I am in the process of finding a new teaching assistant job, preferably in special education, where I can work in a public school setting and  surround myself with knowledgeable educators whom I can learn from. I hope to learn from my co-workers how to run an effective, collaborative, and engaging classroom, all the while keeping the fun and art alive.

One year from now I see myself completing my student teaching along with my Master’s degree at Touro, all the while still working as a teacher’s assistant to gain more knowledge and experience in the classroom (not to mention needing the money to live on).  I am all about experiencing new and different things, so I could definitely see myself sometime down the road venturing into obtaining my ENL certification. Five years from now I hope to be mainly and most importantly  happy, maybe even engaged, and have secured my own classroom as a head elementary or special education teacher at a school on Long Island (one can dream). I am also hopeful I will be able to afford my own place (praying I will be out of my mom’s house) where I can resume my life as an independent and productive woman of society.