How I became a teacher and what I’m doing now…..
I have always loved children but I wasn't one of
those kids that played school when they were younger knowing they would be a
teacher someday. I also wasn't like many others who had a long line of teachers
in their family; no one in my family had been in education until my older
sister became a speech pathologist. One January while college was on break my
sister invited me to spend the day with her in her classroom; at the time I was
a mall girl working as a junior assistant manager at a trendy store and taking
classes in marketing. I didn’t have class on Friday and thought well that might
be fun I can go hang out with my sister during the day and we can hit the town that
evening. When I accepted the offer I had
no idea that I would have so much fun, despite the fact that the first
activity of the day was "head checks" and a couple of kids had to be
sent home. Boy I still remember itching like
crazy all day long but the encounter with “couties” did not discourage me one bit I still decided
this was way better than the business world, it was exciting, fun, it didn't
even seem like work and those kiddos say the cutest things. The following day I
couldn't get home fast enough to sign up for classes in Early Childhood
Education. The rest as they say is
history, I have taught first grade for 20 years. I would have started my 21st year
this year but instead I have taken a leave of absence to tend to two very
special people in my life, my mother and mother in law. In January my mother in law (the best mother
in law on earth) was diagnosed with esophageal cancer. We knew her prognosis
wasn't good but we put her illness in God's hands. She experienced ups and
downs with her treatments but we thought she was doing ok considering the
treatment she was going through. The second week of August she became very sick
and had to be airlifted to St. Louis, that’s about a two hour car ride from
where we live. Although we all thought the issue we went to St. Louis for had
been fixed and our prayers had been answered a week later we were blindsided
with the news that we should take her home and make her comfortable, she passed
away 5 days later. She had 9 grandchildren, 4 children, 1 daughter in law, and
3 son in laws. She treated us all like her own and we will miss her
greatly.
My leave was intended to help
with her and my own mother who is scheduled to have back surgery next month. It has been a month since my mother in laws
passing and although my heart will forever be broken I finally feel like I am
starting to get my footings again where I can spend a little time on our blog.
I will say that although I am not teaching this year I am busy every
single day, I’m not sure how I work 9 months out of the year it seems like all
I do is run from pillar to post. So
there you have it a little look inside who I am, how I became a teacher and
what I’m doing these days. Here are a
few more things about me in pictorial form……
We live on a grain farm.......
This is what I see out my front window……
I married my college sweetheart and we have three wonderful children.
I had to throw this pic in to show my boys are actually happy kids. They
just hate getting their picture taken because in their words I take way too many.
HA! I love photography.....
Now here's a little freebie so you can learn more about your kiddos. I'm sure everyone has already completed their "All About Me" unit for this year but hopefully you can still find it useful, I'm thinking filler, sub, center, or station.
And Finally I believe God is the reason for my being and
the many blessings in my life.
Happy Monday Everyone!
Alison
You can link up your freebies every Monday here....