So when did I know that I wanted to become a teacher?
Well, like other teachers, my inspiration came from a teacher himself, a History teacher, in fact. His name was Mr. Wilbur and I had him for both 9th grade World History Honors and half of my 11th grade US History AP class.
Just the way he taught opened my eyes!!! I never had a teacher so enthusiastic, so entertaining, and so interested in my education. Before I was his student, I always assumed that History was constant memorization and regurgitation. There was a high chance that I would forget what I had just learned in the within just a few weeks.
Mr. Wilbur changed all that. He was the first teacher ever who taught me how to write an academic essay (explaining the structure and logic of it all). Yes, my previous English teachers never taught me how to write an appropriate essay, Mr. Wilbur did. In addition, he took teaching History a step further. Instead of only memorization and regurgitation, he helped us develop critical thinking skills through primary source analysis, special projects to show our understanding of the content, implementing Icons of Depth and Complexity (which I'll explain in a future post) and use of Cornell Notes (though I would never use them again - not my style of note taking).
From that point on, I decided my career path, in 9th grade, within his class.
Since that day on, I stuck with that choice - graduating from the University of California, Irvine (UCI) with a Bachelors degree in Social Science specializing in Secondary School Education and a double minor in History and Educational Studies. I then continued by receiving my teaching credential in Social Science from the same undergraduate school I attended, UCI.
I received my teaching credential in 2008. It is currently 2011, but I am still passionate about teaching History and hopefully, by the upcoming academic year, I'll be able to have a classroom of my own.
