Extended About Me (part 5 of 5)

As I am preparing to return to grad school once again, I can't help but reflect back to one of the first papers I wrote in graduate school. Here's the end of my "Extended About Me" from August 2013: 
 

I returned from Japan almost exactly one year ago, certain that I wanted to go back to school, but uncertain of how to translate my interest in out of classroom learning into a degree program. Even though I knew I was not going to stay in Japan for more than a year, I dreaded returning to California without an idea of where I was going next. After all the work I had done, would it be a step backwards? To alleviate my conflict, I knew that I wanted to get a job in a community school, and within a week I had a first grade teacher’s aide position at a Catholic elementary school which neighbored my own elementary school. Providing service to my home community proved more fulfilling that I ever envisioned. One day, I stayed seven hours past my typical clocking out time to help my teacher set up for Open House. Honestly, I enjoyed it—I got to get to know my teacher better, meet the parents of our students, and felt like I was making a small contribution to the school community. I told her, “This is the type of stuff I wanted to do in Japan, but no one ever wanted to bother me.” Over the year, I was able to use my developmental background from undergrad to convey observations I had about our students. I noticed a student having trouble with choosing appropriately challenging reading books also really loved to talk about animals. I suggested that we provide her with an animal book beyond her current comfort level, but as a goal for her to work towards. Her increased motivation to read harder books in order to understand her goal book was noticeable immediately.

Ultimately, I found that my passion with helping students succeed lies in my desire to help cultivate their unique gifts and qualities. I am an only daughter, adopted sister, life-long learner, and a learning educator, and hopefully through these and my many other identities, I will continue to develop and implement my passion into my future work.