I have been working with children for almost six years. I love it so much. I'm going to school as an elementary education and history major. In retrospect, I have never truly seen myself doing anything other than working with children. I have always looked up to my teachers. My first teacher was Mrs. Hammel. I had Mrs. Hammel in kindergarten. I remember her classroom vividly. We each had our own space and when we walked in we had to move a tag with our name on it to a specific line saying if we were buying lunch or not. The tags changed based on the season and what was going on throughout the year. For winter we had snowmen tags, I really remember this one. I loved school. I still love school. School is a routine, I love routines.
I asked my mother what I wanted to be what I grew up and she immediately responded, "A teacher. Go figure. And Ariel from The Little Mermaid." Honestly, still accurate. Like I said, I have never wanted to be anything but a teacher. Children are my favorite people. They're silly and fun and don't care about anything. They have so much to learn. They have so much time to learn. They don't have to worry about anything. They don't have a filter and say whatever they want. They're the best.
I work at a summer camp in town and have since I was a freshman in high school. Two of my favorite things are being at away at school and being at camp. For the past two years I have worked with the same group of kids. This school year they all went in to either first or second grade. I miss them so much. I have thought about getting a better paying job for when I'm home for the summer, but I would miss them so much. Summer without camp wouldn't be summer. Every year on the last day of camp, I cry. I have so much fun, no matter how much I complain about the heat or that half of them were keeping secrets and three girls cried.
One of my favorite things that happened this year at camp was when a boy in my group realized that he had gotten taller in the past year. He went to the bathroom and came up to me and said, "I think I've grown. I can reach the paper towels now and last year I couldn't!" I was so happy when he said that. He also was one of my favorite kids, even though I'm not supposed to have a favorite or favorites. His expression of shock and happiness was incredible.
Moments like this are things that make me want to become a teacher. When I'm at school I work at an elementary school down the street. I enjoy it very much. Last year I was in a fourth grade class. I was there during their math time and usually worked one-on-one with students that were struggling. One day this kid I was working with finally understood something after going over it for about fifteen minutes. His face lit up and all he could say was, "Ohhhhhhh!" It was great.
Kids are just great. I don't know what else to say. They make me so happy and I can't wait to spend a lot of time with them for the rest of my life.
