I remember my 2nd-grade teacher's classroom. She was obsessed with penguins. She had penguin stuffed animals all over her classroom. I remember daydreaming about being a teacher and what I would have in my classroom. It's cute to think back on that now knowing that I am going to be a teacher.

When I was thinking about what I wanted to go to college for my first thought was a therapist. I knew I wanted to help people. One day my friend suggested that I should be an elementary school teacher and I just went with it. I had no idea what being a teacher would hold for me. I had a few ideas, but nothing summed up to what I view being a teacher is now.

When you think of a teacher you think of someone that helps kids learn. After working in an elementary school for 2 years now and being in college for 6 I have come to realize there is a huge responsibility to being culturally responsive. I remember learning about implicit biases when I was receiving my associate's and thinking "Oh my god am I racist?". It was such an awful feeling, I had been blind to so many things my entire life. It opened up this whole new world for me. That was when my passion for teaching really began. I realized being a teacher meant being an advocate for people of color. It meant helping give people of color a voice in our society and helping to lift them up. It meant educating my friends and family on topics of racism and helping them become more aware of what our society has tried so hard to hide from us in order to keep white people in a place of power.

I have been working with a diverse group of students since I began my education journey and I absolutely love it. I couldn't imagine teaching in any other setting. What my educational journey has led me to is nothing I could have ever imagined, but I know it is exactly where I am supposed to be. I always dreaded going to work until I began working at schools. I always find myself smiling about something every day. It doesn't feel like work, I'm never looking at the clock counting down the minutes until the day is over. I'm only a student teacher and I can't wait to see what being a real teacher is going to feel like! (((: