Experience

October 2023 - June 2024

Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District

DEGREED SUBSTITUTE TEACHER

Relief teacher for elementary schools around CFISD. Teaching in classrooms from kindergarten to 5th grade, covering all ​subjects. Led students through lesson plans, sat in on planning meetings, improvised TEKS-appropriate activities in absence ​of provided material, worked alongside paraprofessionals.

October 2021 - May 2023

Watermark Community Church l 7540 Lyndon B Johnson Fwy, Dallas, TX 75251

Kids' Midweek Ministry (previously training ground) Leader

Provided care and supervision for children from infancy to 5th grade while parents attend ministries. Conducted lessons and ​related activities based on Biblical foundations. Provided each child a place where they are seen, safe, and loved by God.

February 2020 - August 2020

UT Dallas l 800 W Campbell Rd, Richardson, TX 75080

Orientation leader (student Assistant) for New Student Programs

Led freshman orientation small groups individually and in small teams throughout summer; assisted in scheduling and planning ​academic courses; conducted social events virtually through Microsoft Teams and Zoom.

Relevant Coursework

Child Development

Social and Personality Development

Exceptional Children

Normal Language Development

Language Disorders in Children

Children's Literature

Reading 1 - Learning to Read

Skills and Certifications

Childcare and teaching for infants through 5th grade

MinistrySafe Sexual Abuse Awareness Training

OSHA General Industry Safety and Health - September 2018

Previously certified in American Heart Association Basic Life Support CPR ​and AED

Previously certified in American Heart Association Heartsaver CPR AED ​(with additional modules: Child CPR AED, Infant CPR, First Aid)

For as long as I remember, I’ve wanted to work with children to some capacity. For 17 years of my life, that ​meant becoming a pediatrician. I aimed for medical school from age 3, started out my college journey as a ​molecular biology major, and jumped into my studies headfirst. I soon found myself crashing and burning as the ​study methods I’d used in high school weren’t working. After failing to meet my goal to succeed in organic ​chemistry for the second time, I had reached a wall. I felt as if this childhood dream of helping kids would not ​be achieved, and I came extremely close to dropping out of college. In the meantime, I was leading classrooms at ​my church’s kids’ ministry and teaching small kids.

As I changed my major to doubling in psychology and child learning and development, my experience in ministry led ​me to realize that I was being called to become a teacher. Looking back at my childhood, I can recall moments ​where I had especially big “a-ha!” moments in school, and then I would come back and make fake lessons and ​quizzes for my brother. I used red markers to correct mistakes, taught my brother long division essentially as ​soon as I had mastered it, and continued to play teacher for years. My faith in God helped me understand that ​this might have always been my calling.

I had worked part-time as a teacher at my church’s midweek kids’ ministry, and I got to see just how special it ​is to create a bond with the parents and families of the children I got to teach. It started to become a personal ​goal for me to keep up with the lives of these families to help care for them as their children grew. During that ​time, I was able to solidify my plan to become a certified teacher so that I could continue to pursue that joy of ​caring for others while fostering the love of learning in kids.

I have always loved learning. I started reading at an early age. I was encouraged since kindergarten to research ​and share what I learned with others. I have always been pushed by my teachers and family to keep questioning ​the world around me. Now I would love to be able to do that myself. The world needs curious minds. The next ​generation needs teachers that encourage them and support them in their growth rather than dragging them ​forward for the sake of meeting quotas. I would love to be a small part of encouraging that in my community.

I was fortunate enough to have teachers and ​professors my entire life who focused on the heart ​of learning as a way for my classmates and me to ​grow. Weaknesses did not define us as students, ​and we were taught in different ways that brought ​out the best in us. I want to focus less on ​traditional pedagogy and more on helping the child ​grow as a person. I do not want my classroom to ​be one where the expectation is to reach some ​academic standard or perfection but rather a room ​in which each child knows that their journey of ​growth will be unique from others.

As Mr. Beeby did for our class 13 years ago, I hope ​to incorporate activities within the curriculum ​standards that make learning exciting. I want to ​combine science reports with art dioramas; I want ​my students to observe nature and learn from it. I ​want to, as my first and second grade teachers ​did, get students used to presenting in front of ​their peers as a way to let them learn from each ​other’s traditions and experiences. I want my ​classroom to be a place where children of all ​cultures and backgrounds meet and learn to care ​for one another. So I hope that, as an educator, I ​will be able to grow more open-minded day by day ​so I can help encourage this.