Hello!!
So I'll start this thing off with telling a little about myself and why I started this conversation.
Yes, CONVERSATION because I hope that's what this becomes. A way to connect with other teachers-to-be and swap helpful and inspired stories and tips. So here goes....
I am a 25 year old college student who is currently studying in the Secondary Education Program. I plan being English certified and focusing on middle school standards. When I was young I had actually always wanted to be a teacher. For career day I always threw on a pair of glasses and branded a ruler claiming I was the best teacher ever! I've always been a good reader, but was never truly fascinated by it. It wasn't until I reached middle school that I truly found a passion. Reading stories such as The Giver and The Hatchet is what ignited a fire in my soul for how reading can take you on adventures you may never experience yourself. They evoked emotions in myself that I never knew I could get just from simply reading.
Its this experience of soul finding and passion discovery that I want to witness in our future generations. The younger generation is nothing but social medias and videos of people hurting themselves for entertainment value. They are beginning to lose the time to experience how something as simple as a book can have such an impact upon ones life and future. I want to be able to be the person who helps and guides them to have that experience of soul defining moments. I don't just want to be able to focus on literary experience either though. I myself love to learn. If I could forever be a student and just learn new things every day I would. I want my students to be able to have that kind feeling of just wanting to know things and to expand their minds. I want to see a child's face light up when learning something that maybe they thought impossible or improbable in fact IS possible and even probable. The joy of finally understanding and overcoming a problem. If I can be that person that helped them discover passion, why would I not take that chance? Even if they never remember my name, why would I not want to provide the opportunity?
Emily, I know you will help students find passion in reading and writing. There are others, too, who won't find that passion the same way you have--but who maybe find new levels and layers of literacy that they can apply to social media and fail videos. I'm really excited to see how you can transcend text and focus on literacy--in literature and in life.
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