Why?

" They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel."

-Unknown

As begin this last semester of college, I want to reflect back on why I've worked so hard these past 4 years. Why have I worked so hard at restaurants and odd jobs for college money? Why have I spent sleepless nights staring at my notes? Why have I sacrificed time with friends to research just a little more for that project? 

I had the best kindergarten teacher in the entire world! I was a little English girl thrown into a French school without understanding a single word anyone spoke to me. She was terribly patient and had a closet full of stuff she would whip out to teach me the language. Someone would talk about a bear, she would hand me a little teddy bear. Another kid would share a story about baking cookies with Mommy, and she would pull out a cook book for me to flip through. 

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I was lucky enough to have her as my 1st grade teacher too...but everything changed after that. Instead of my 2nd grade teacher making me feel loved, or special, or like I could accomplish anything I set my mind to, she put me down. I don't remember many smiles from her, and I remember crying at my desk because I just didn't understand what she was saying. She didn't take that extra step to explain the new vocabulary to me, she just frowned. 

My 3rd grade teacher wasn't any better. I was student who often struggled with simple math just because I couldn't keep my french numbers straight. She always sat me in the back of the classroom, even though my eyesight was poor, and called me out whenever I wasn't looking her in the eye. She criticized my pictures that I gave her as gifts, and would even go as far as announcing my horrible math grade to the entire class. I spent several recesses sitting at my desk doing her extra homework.

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I felt like a worthless and dumb little girl. To this day, I struggle will putting myself down because of them.

I never, ever want another child to feel how I did. 

That's why I work so hard in school. I want to learn and develop my skills as much as possible. I feel like if I'm there, then that just keeps one more bad teacher out of the classroom. And that keeps one more bad teacher away from those kids.

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I'm gonna graduate this May, and I'm going to go on to have the coolest preschool classroom this town has ever seen. Wearing a messy bun in my hair, bright shoes on my feet, and a genuine smile on my face, I'm going to accomplish what my 2nd and 3rd grade teacher should have. 

I'm going to make a difference in those little lives...for the better.