My father worked at IBM since before I was born. I grew up surrounded by IBM and, while I didn’t know exactly what my father did at work, I knew IBM meant computers. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that, ever since I was in third grade, my answer to the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” was “a Computer Programmer.”
I pursued that goal and ended up also working at IBM. Interestingly enough, just a few years after working at IBM, I moved away from actual programming and into leadership roles. One of my father’s last roles at IBM before he retired was as a motivational speaker and teacher. His classes and presentations were always sought after and everyone loved his interactive style. I also found myself delivering presentations and enjoying it. I looked for opportunities to teach, following again in my father’s footsteps. In classes I took, I discovered that I could often understand a question someone had that the presenter wouldn’t understand and I could interpret and restate the question so that both parties were satisfied.
I first looked into getting my teaching degree at NCSU only a few years into my career at IBM. However it would have taken too long and I’m afraid I couldn’t justify the cut in pay at that time in my life. Several years later, when the IBM Transition to Teaching Program came along, I was sorely tempted again. However, I was at the height of my career and had started a family. The timing was not good for such a disruption.
As my children grew, so did my involvement in the education system. I volunteered when I could and especially enjoyed my visits to the Middle School during Engineer’s Week. Having the children’s attention and seeing the “ah ha” moment in their eyes as I explained computer programming via games was thrilling. When my oldest son went to high school, he excelled in all his studies, but especially in Math. I would have him show me his homework and refresh me on the principles of Geometry and Calculus. He even ended up taking Calculus III via Distance Learning at NCSU when he was a senior. His Calculus teacher and sponsor in high school was one of his biggest influences.
I am now in the position to have an “encore career” and have gone back to the question “What do I want to be when I grow up?” I believe that third grader would now say “a Teacher.” I have reached a maturity in my career and life that now allows me to pursue my true interests and I’ve realized that teaching is where I’ve been heading for years.
Through my interactions with my children’s friends, I feel I have a good rapport with the high school age kids and am excited to help them reach their potential. With my experience in the technology business world, as well as my experience with watching my own three children go through our public school system, I believe that I could help improve their experiences. I've seen how teachers can enhance and impede students' understanding and I want to be part of the solution.
My upbringing did not emphasize gender specific roles at all. In fact, with three daughters and no sons on a horse-farm, we were often brought up to do the job of both genders. I have actually identified more with male oriented roles than female oriented, so gender did not influence my desire to be a teacher at all. My socioeconomic background allows me to pursue this profession out of want rather than need. My personal experience in education has always been a positive one and I think it should be positive for all students.
I believe education should be mind-opening and give our children the information and means to take each generation further than the last. Education is a building block upon which our children should continue to build and explore. We should all strive to build upon what we've already learned and, in that capacitiy, I definitely believe in research.
Now that I have a basic understand of what is meant by classroom action research, I whole-heartedly support that idea. I believe we have to continue to look for ways to improve upon what we are doing or we will never grow. I think classroom research can be very beneficial, but I think changes need to be implemented with care. I have seen my children be "guinea pigs" for too many "let's try this now" schemes. I would not want to implement anything too radical without sound reasons that show it would be beneficial.
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