Introduction

I am a teacher.

Teaching is not just my profession; it is who I am. Many teachers know they are teachers from a young age, but I arrived on the education scene through a very circuitous route. I went to college for psychology and fine art. People often asked, “What are you going to do with that?” I was young and terribly naive.

After my undergraduate years, I worked for a time in a daycare, because what else can you do with a B.A. in psychology and B.F.A.s in metalworking and photography? During that time, I applied to graduate schools to study art history and was admitted to the Ohio State University in Columbus.

I spent five years earning my M.A. in History of Art and beginning Ph.D. work. I was at the point of taking my general exams for the Ph.D. when I realized that I hated what I was doing. I was taking anti-depressants and dreaded going to work in an Asian art archive for professors who neither respected nor liked me. At this point, I asked myself what I enjoyed and where I was happiest. I landed on teaching: I love being in the classroom, and it truly feels like home to me. I always thought that people who said they were “born” to do something were kidding themselves, but I actually was born to teach; I feel it in my blood.

As it came to pass, OSU has a strong M.Edu. program to which I was admitted. I decided I wanted to teach English because I could help students expand their critical thinking skill which they could use in any other field of study. I took the prerequisite courses while substitute teaching and began the M.Edu. program not a year after quitting History of Art.

In both my English and my education classes, I felt much happier than any point in History of Art. I stopped taking anti-depressants and, for the first time in a long time, felt quite satisfied with the direction of my life. I took classes with an amazing group of 28 individuals that taught me as much as the handful of professionals that guided our 12 month program.