1. And This Is Me… And This Is Me…

2.  I am 35 years old  I am married to my best friend  We will celebrate our 20 th year anniversary in November

3.  Together, we have 6 children  5 daughters, 1 son  Ages 18, 16, 13, 12, 10, and 7

4.  We are a Christian family  We love attending concerts and events

6.  I love to  Read  Sing  Explore and go on adventures  Live in the moment  Be spontaneous

7.  I love to stop and smell the flowers  And capture every moment on picture

9. No matter how much you teach them, kids always desire to know more. No matter how much they learn, you learn just as much, if not more, from them. Kids see things from such a different angle than adults, and just when we think we are so very wise about something, they blow us away with their astounding ideas. It is for these reasons that I have chosen to earn my degrees working with children.

10. I have a Bachelors degree in Psychology, with a Minor in Child Development, as well as a Minor in Social and Criminal Justice. I am working on my Masters in Education right now. I am not sure exactly what I want to do right now with my degrees; however, I am a licensed Substitute Teacher in Indiana, where we just moved from, and I am waiting to receive my Substitute Teaching License here in Ohio, Were I just moved to. I absolutely LOVE working with the kids, any grade, of any age. Though my children attend public school now, I homeschooled my own children for several years, so teaching is a real passion of mine. So, this is the direction I am going. I cannot wait to see what God has in store for me and to experience it all falling into place.

11. As a child, I attended public school. Thinking back over all my years in school, I would have to say that the greatest times I had were with the teachers that were involved hands-on. They were not just there to teach; they were there to build up, mold, and help develop students, while leaving a lasting legacy.

12. The best teacher I ever had was my science teacher in 7 th grade. He went above and beyond teaching out of the book. He made the book come alive! Instead of reading from the text book about how you can manipulate baby chicks, he brought in fertilized eggs, worked with us to actually die the embryos different colors, helped us hatch the colored chicks, and then let us experience how they latch on and think the first thing they see is their mother! For our end of the year trip, he took us to a camp site that had quick sand and led us through experiencing that! Step by step, he helped us learn, instead of just teaching us. That is the kind of teacher I want to be. That is why I have chosen my focus on my degrees.

13. I feel with a Masters degree in Education, I will be able to open the eyes of children in the way that my 7 th grade science teacher opened mine. I will be able to build up, mold, and develop students just the way he did, and maybe, just maybe, leave behind a legacy and make an impact in the manner that he did.

14. First off, studying Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences, I have found that his ideas have not only helped mold me into the person that I am, but they have also helped me mold my children into the people that they are. His ideas are also those that I use when I teach other children. It is part of my foundational beliefs, and it is the Following concept: “Do not ask yourself how smart am I, but rather ask yourself how am I smart ?”

15. It takes away from the misconception that one is stupid because they do not know something, and turns it into the idea that just because one does not know one thing, they do in fact understand something else. We are all, each one of us, smart at something.

16. Secondly, we are all familiar with Facebook and all the quotes that people share on there. Just the other day, a friend shared an anonymous quote, and it really fit my foundation as a teacher as well. It is such a profound thought; yet when you grasp it, it is so revealing.

17. Lastly, but certainly not the least, I have one final quote that is perfect to focus on when teaching children. The same concept is true for teaching a child.

18. Everything I have been through in my life, all that I have learned and experienced, all those involved in my life both in the past and now, make me the person that I am. They give me the desire to be the person that I want to be. The foundations that have built me into the person I am today are those that help me to build those up that I work with. Aside from being a wife, a mother, and a follower of Christ,