I truly believe that my experiences in my personal life have made me a better teacher. I married a man from a different country and I teach Global Culture. My students hear so much more about India than any other students in the school, and they didn't even have to pay for a plane ticket. I show them pictures of huge temples with thousands of people in them, we paint henna on for Christmas and talk about the traditions behind it, and we talk about how not everyone experiences life the same way. My passion for learning about other cultures has translated into a teacher who allows her students to teach each other about their families, cultures, and traditions. Every year, I organize a Culture Festival that I believe has helped to change the attitude around culture at the middle school I taught at.
My interest in global education first began when I studied abroad in China through Michigan State University's College of Education. We spent two weeks traveling to different schools and learning about how they teach their students and what we can learn from that. I was inspired to learn more. I traveled to Ireland to study education as well, and eventually India as well. I take everything I learn from other teachers and add it to my own teaching as well as bring back parts of the culture to celebrate with my students.
I also learned that I love, love, love teaching students with special needs through my work at Riley Upper Elementary school. My first year teaching, I had six students (out of 31 total) in my class who had Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). I was so intimidated at first, but I realized that I become somewhat obsessed with finding the best teaching methods, technologies, and interventions to help students who simply need a different way to learn.
I don't think you need to completely separate the personal from the professional when you're a teacher. My students know about my trips around the world, they know when I'm building a brick wall in my living room because I make them find the area and calculate how many bricks I need to buy. They know that my dog is not the brightest but that I take him outside for walks everyday because you need to find a way to keep yourself active and not staring at a computer screen all day. They know that I care about them all and that I take time out of my day to be the best teacher for them that I can be. My students are safe in my classroom, they are loved, and they learn to love themselves and the world.