Running head: CAYLAS EDUCATIONAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Caylas Educational Autobiography Cayla Sandlin Ivy Tech Community College

CAYLAS EDUCATIONAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY Standard #8: Instructional Strategies The teacher understands and uses a variety of instructional strategies to encourage learners to develop deep understanding of content areas and their connections, and to build skills to apply knowledge in meaningful ways.

Name of Artifact: Caylas Educational Autobiography Date: February 5, 2013 Course: EDUC 101

Brief Description: In this paper, I will discuss the beginning of my educational career as a kindergarten through twelfth grade student. As I reflect, I will elaborate on major events as a young student that made an impact on my learning. There are choices, actions, and relationships with teachers that have created my decision to become a teachersome of these are discussed within the paper.

Rationale: Standard #8, Instructional Strategies, I think is relative to my paper because as the readers proceed to read about me and educational background, they will understand that I have a passionate connections to impacting students lives. This paper will explain why I want to pursue a career as a teacher because and that I am attending college to build skills that will help me to apply my knowledge in my future classroom.

CAYLAS EDUCATIONAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY Abstract This autobiography paper is a reflection of my life as a student from kindergarten to twelfth

grade. Throughout the paper, I will elaborate on major events throughout my education career as a child. I will reflect on adventures I had as a child and fond memories I had with teachers who made an impact on my education. I found that being a student-athlete helped my education in school, so I will reflect on my experiences with academics and sports, as well. While reading the paper, you will discover why I have chosen to become a teacher as my career of choice. Also, I will discuss why it is important to be an influential teacher to students of all ages. You will find out that I am a believer in exploration and fun through learning. I also believe in getting to know each student individually like some of my teachers took time to do when I was a student. This timeline of events proves to be an essential aspect to bringing me to the adult I am today as well as my career of choice.

CAYLAS EDUCATIONAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY Caylas Educational Autobiography They were all sitting in a rowMickey, my dolly, and a dinosaur. They were the quietest students any teacher could ever teach. Im not sure what they learned; it was probably simple addition problems and how to spell cat. Since I was the teacher, I would grade their

papers and write math problems on my Fisher-Price chalkboard. My great imagination as a little girl is what sparked my interest in becoming a teacher one day. I remember playing school every day. Sometimes I would get to go to work with my mom at the preschool she worked at. While I was there, I would sneak into the teachers supply room and make copies of coloring pages or math problems for my students to do. I think I liked being in charge. But more importantly, I was a fun teacher and I was good at it. From the permanent smiles on Mickey, dolly, and dinosaurs faces, they loved school and their teacher. I knew when I was eight that I wanted to be a teacher. Its hard to say why I longed to be a teacher when I was just a kid. As adults, we want to be teachers because we love children or we want to make a positive impact on our future generations. As a kid, do you love kids? Or when you are eight, do you already think about the impact you want to make on generations to come? For me, I wanted to be like my elementary school teachers. The colorful rooms, fun learning songs, the energy, having a seating chart, and being in control were all things I thought were cool about being a teacher. Major Events in My Education My parents were never a part of PTA; however, they were involved in my education. My mom and dad had a good rapport with my teachers, which helped my education. They showed up to parent-teacher conferences and didnt just listen to my teacher talk about my bad math grade, but they inquired on how to help me. I remember it was a nice spring day and I was

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playing outside. My dad was working in the garage. He interrupted my play time by having me sit at his work bench with him. We sat for a couple of hours talking about addition, subtraction, and measurements on a yard stick. He tutored me. He taught me tricks when it came to addingtricks he learned as a kid. I still remember how much I learned that day and I passed second grade. My parents helped me with my homework each evening and they loved helping with projects for class. Each year, my mom was my classrooms Room Mom. For each holiday or special occasion, she brought games and snacks. I do remember when it was a bummer that my mom was Room Mom. In fifth grade, she was hosting my classrooms Valentines Day party. She had a jar of candy hearts and we, the students, were to guess how many hearts were in the jar and jot our guess down on a piece of paper. My guess just happened to be dead on. But since my mom was Room Mom, my mom thought itd be best if I didnt win because the other students might think we cheated. So, I walked out in the hallway crying. My teacher brought a candy bar to me. Other than that particular party, I loved my mom being Room Mom. I loved that she was involved and I got to brag to my classmates, Thats my mom! Parents have a vital impact on a childs education. They are the cheerleaders for the child and teammates of the teacher. I think that the child will mirror what their parents do. If parents are highly involved in their childs education community, then it will reflect positively to the child and motivate him or her to want to go to school. Im very blessed to have had parents who were involved in my learning. Another factor that had a positive outcome on my early education was my teachers. Its ironic to say that my teachers had an effect on my education, but I know many teachers who had no effect on my education. A great teacher is what gets a student involved in learning and perhaps, excited about it. I loved my kindergarten teacher. Essentially, she introduced me to the

CAYLAS EDUCATIONAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY world of learning. She was like a pep rally for whats to come for the next thirteen years of my life. It was important for her to make such an impact on her kindergarteners so that they would love school and so they would think that its fun. Today, I have fond memories of that year. Later on in high school, I found that some teachers just teach for the paycheck. High school educators got boring, but every once in a while, I got a teacher that believed in progressivism. Those teachers encouraged fun, hands-on exploration in learning and they believed in group

discussions and debates as opposed to hum-drum worksheets. Throughout my K-12 education, I must say its been enjoyablethanks to the teachers. Yeah, I hated math and I really didnt like those awkward middle school years where everyone is changing. But I remember the awesome teachers I had. Actually, those awesome teachers I had were the ones that I learned the most from. As a student, I learned from those teachers because they kept my interest and they believed that learning should be a fun experience. As a future educator, I believe it is important to be an awesome teacher. I want the keep my students awake in class and I want them to expect an adventure every day. The last major event in my young educational career is sports. To me, it actually has a big connection with learning and being motivated to succeed in school. When I was five-years old, my parents signed me up for tee-ball. I played softball every year since then because I loved it. My dad suited me up in catchers gear and he and my coaches turned me into a tough little catcher. In seventh grade, I tried out for Raymond Park Middle Schools softball team. The team was combined of seventh and eighth graders. The catcher on the team had a years experience playing school ball since she was in eighth gradeI had no experience, yet. Remember I mentioned that I was terrible in math? Well, my math teacher just happened to be the coach of the softball team. Although she was a friendly lady, I didnt love her as a teacher

CAYLAS EDUCATIONAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY because she taught math. Tryouts came around in March. I was nervous, naturally, but I was

also scared of the eighth grade catcher and my math teacher-coach. To make a long story short, I made the team as a starting catcher. I beat the eighth grade catcher out of her spot. Not only did I earn a starting position, but I really got to know my math teacher since she was now my coach. To be a student-athlete, all of the students grades had to be a C or better. My math grade was typically a C minus or worse. My seventh grade year is what made me a stronger math student. My math teacher-coach helped me out much more in class to ensure I had a passing grade. Staying on the team was important to me, so I was obligated to ask her for help, which is something I never did. But as the season progressed, I had a better relationship with my teachercoach. I was more comfortable asking her questions or staying after school for tutoring. This continued on until my senior year in high school. My senior year, I was voted as captain of the varsity team (and yes, I was still a catcher). All my high school coaches were teachers. Without softball, I wouldnt have got to know these special people on a personal level. They each helped me to be comfortable with whom I am which made me a better student, friend, and teammate. Becoming all of those made me a much better person. Being a student-athlete probably helped me graduate high school. I had to care about academics and grades to stay on the team. School sports kept me on the right track instead of following peer pressure. Also, my personality really shined. I got to know so many people and was actually voted on the Homecoming court. My coaches, who were also my teachers during the day, influenced my life. As teachers, they wanted me to succeed. Today, I still keep in touch with my teacher-coaches. Conclusion A childs education is a team project. Parents send their children to school for seven hours a day hoping their children are safe and expecting they are learning. When teachers send

CAYLAS EDUCATIONAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY their students home, they are hoping they are cared for and loved and that a parent is helping them with homework. Without this comradery, a childs education isnt likely to succeed. The child will feel like he or she is on their own team with no help or references. Luckily, my parents were concerned about my education and they communicated with my teacher. The teachers that I remember now and want to be like are the ones that I learned from. Those

teachers are the ones that are full of spice, energy, structure, compassion, respect, and concern. I really believe those are key ingredients to being a successful teacher. I remember having teachers with those ingredientsand those are the teachers I want to teach like. Any person can just teach. But are these people who are just teaching really reaching out to students? As a student-athlete, I was involved. I know many students who werent student-athletes who succeeded, but I believe that students who are involved in extracurricular activities within their school are much more successful and apt to learning. Passing grades are required to be in student council, drama club, or on athletic teams. Enforcing passing grades for extracurriculars motivates students to achieve good grades and to do their best. I dont see this as the end of my educational autobiography. I still have professors in college to look forward to impacting my life. As a future educator, I cant wait to impact young learners.

CAYLAS EDUCATIONAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY References INTASC Model Core Teaching Standards: A Resource for State Dialogue (2011) Standard #9, Professional Learning and Ethical Practice. Retrieved from http://www.ccsso.org/documents/2011/intasc_model_core_teaching_standards_2011.pdf