To my students (past, current,
and future),
As part of the beginning of the year, I always make it a point to provide
opportunities for you to learn about me, both as a teacher and not. While you
learn basic information about me, my family, some of my hobbies etc. there are
some things about me that I don’t tell you. These stories are personal and to
put it very simply, were life changing events that helped mold me to who I am
today. Because I want you all to have the experience to truly know me, here are
some important life events of mine. Let me make note that each of these
experiences individually helped me in my quest for self-discovery and figuring
out who I am today.
One
thing that you may not know about me is that I love to sing. I don’t just mean
I love to sing in the shower or in the car, I love singing in front of people
to make them feel good. From a young age, I knew that I had a talent, but for
whatever reason, I held this gift back. I was worried that what I felt was a
real talent was nothing more than mediocre, average, nothing special. I had my
time in the limelight in 5thgrade with a solo in Shh...
We’re Writing the Constitution. I thought that this experience would
finally motivate me to pursue other opportunities to sing. Unfortunately, that
was not the case. Being the fourth child of six, I always felt invisible and
would readily diagnose myself of having middle child syndrome. I
wanted to feel accepted and for whatever reason, I never could find it. It
wasn’t until five years later, at the beginning of my sophomore year of high
school when I finally took the risk and joined choir.
My
parents were hesitant as they were unaware of my interest in singing, but were
eager in my excitement. Little did they know that I was hiding something
far within my vocal chords and my soul. My choir teacher Mrs. Freeman was a
quirky teacher who did what she could to make me feel accepted in
this bunch of choir geeks. In the fall of my sophomore year, my choral class
was performing in an operetta. I did not audition in any lead roles as I felt
intimated by the upperclassmen. Nonetheless, Mrs. Freeman wanted to have a
couple of students sing solos/ duets before the play. I don’t know what it was
that motivated me to volunteer, but I did. I decided to sing “Getting to Know
You” from The King and I as I felt it was an appropriate song
to sing for my singing debut. I remember singing that song for the first time
with Mrs. Freeman with no reservations or worries. I also remember the look of
amazement on Mrs. Freeman’s face when she heard me sing. All of those years of
skepticism, doubts, and uncertainties melted away and I finally found like I
found purpose. It was after this time that Mrs. Freeman made it a point to
continue to motivate and inspire me to pursue singing as an extracurricular
activity. I guess you could say that Mrs. Freeman’s drive and determination in
some way inspired me to later become an educator because I wanted to make my
students feel the way Mrs. Freeman made me feel, like I mattered and had worth.
This was when I finally started to feel like I belonged.
Believe
it or not, elementary school was not the easiest for me. Reading was a struggle
for me. I could read, but I wasn’t as good of a reader as my peers. I remember
in third grade I was in a second grade reading group. I felt so stupid and
embarrassed for being in the lower group. It was at this point in my life where
I started to realize that I wasn’t really intelligent or really low I was just…
average. Because of this, I never stuck out in my classrooms. The one major
‘in’ that I had was that I was an Everett;
therefore, everyone seemed to know me. My older siblings were extremely
smart and I wasn’t. A lot of the time, I felt like I was a disappointment to my
family because I didn’t get straight ‘As’ or never made it into the accelerated
courses. I felt like an outsider.
Elementary
school and middle school, to put it simply, were a blur. High school, on the other hand, that’s where
I really began to evolve into the person I am today. It was at the time I
walked into high school where I decided to do more than just basic. I am not saying it was easy; it took a lot of
intrinsic motivation (motivation within myself) to get over this label that I
had created of myself. I set my mind on getting better grades, making a strong
effort in my studies, and finding extracurricular activities that made me feel
proud of me (One in particular was choir which you read about above). I pushed
myself to do better and while it took a long time, even into my collegiate
years, I finally got a strong grasp for this whole education thing.
Why
do you think that I am writing to you about this? Well, some of you struggle
with school whether it be content areas (reading, math, writing) or fitting in.
I am writing you about this because I want you to know that while it seems hard
and you just want to give up, it gets better. You may feel like you don’t have
friends and if you feel that way, find people who share similar interests. I
made so many friends once I joined a group that had people that shared a common
passion for. You may have difficulty with reading in elementary school and may
be considered below grade level. That
was me but because I motivated myself to read books that interested me, books
that made me think, I can honestly say
that I now can read books far more complex than I ever thought I could. This struggle that I had as a student was
another reason why I decided to become a teacher; I wanted you all to know that
sometimes it takes time for learning to really click. These trials that I
experienced in my life made me fight to be the life-long learner that I am
today and for that I am proud of myself.
So
there is one more thing that I want you to know. Despite the conversations that
you and I had, have, or will have that may make you think that I am mean or evil, please realize that I have these
conversations with you because I see your true potential, something that you
may or may not see right now. When I get ready for the school day every morning,
while yes I may be making copies or writing what materials you need, without
you all as my students, the copies and the materials would be meaningless. Let
me say this in a more forward way, you all are the driving force of how and
what I teach. I want you all to be inspired to learn, I want you to feel
intellectually challenged and to feel like you
can achieve anything you put your mind to. I know this is a bit cliché, but
the words are true. Many of you live in a rough area where some of your parents
or siblings or grandparents didn’t go to school. Despite what you may hear or
think, you have the potential to DO GREAT THINGS! I want you to feel inspired
and to be able to figure out what your niche (place) is. It took me a long time to realize that my
niche was to help you all find yours.
Learning
is a journey. For some of us, it’s an easy course where we don’t experience
many bumps or obstacles and our final destination is easy to spot out. For
others, it’s a little difficult with some major curves and hills, but in the
end, we figure it out. And then there are some of us where the obstacles and
potholes and curves are so overwhelming that we think it’s easier to just give
up than trying to figure out how to maneuver and persevere through this difficult
course. You all have your own backgrounds and you are unable to determine where
you live or who your parents are. Despite that though, you have the ability to
determine where your future will go. While you have a support team cheering you
on, it’s you who decides where you take the next steps.
If
I have not said it enough, I am so proud of each and every one of you. You all challenge me, motivate and inspire me
to be a better educator FOR YOU and
for that, I am thankful. As Dr. Seuss once wrote, “Today you are YOU, that is
truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.”
Never
lose sight of who you are and always remember that you matter.
Good luck to you,
Happy achieving!
-Ms. Everett
