My Dream To Become A Teacher

Hello, my name is Rachael Eklund. I am from Derby, Kansas which is about and hour and a half from Emporia. I only have one other sibling, who is 18 years old and his name is Ryan. My brother and I are very close in age we are a year and 3 weeks apart, so we are very close. I also have my dad and all together I have seven cousins and I just found out last week that I’m getting a second cousin in June 2019. I’ve always been close with all my family, but when I’m with my dad and brother we are always doing something outdoors together. My dad has always been supportive of me wanting to become an elementary teacher. In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my family, we always do something outdoors or watch the Kansas City Royals on television every night. One of my favorite hobbies is playing softball with my dad.

My dad played baseball ever since he was in elementary school and played it up until high school, and I did the same. We always try to compete against each other to see who is better. When I was a senior in high school, I was stuck on what I wanted to do after high school, and so my mom suggested that I go up to the elementary school where she worked. I instantly fell in love with the kids and I knew at that moment working with kids was for me. Once I decided on my major, my dad suggested Emporia State because one he went here, and he loved it here, and two they have a good teaching program here. When I went on a campus visit this year, I instantly fell in love. The atmosphere here is so easy-going, and the people are so kind and want you to succeed that’s what I love about it.

I haven’t had much opportunities working with children, but the opportunities I’ve had I loved it. When I was around 13 I started babysitting and loved being able to interact with the kids and make them happy when I was there. This gave me a good starting point to interact with kids. I volunteered at a local church for a few years, where the kids would go to other churches and sing songs. This gave me another exposure and I got to help the kids out with the songs that they struggled with. While in high school my senior year, I got to volunteer to go up to an elementary school and interact with the kids. By this point I knew I wanted to major in Elementary Education because I could help with the kids, and once I helped them succeed it would mean the world to me. I also worked at a daycare back at my hometown and got to interact with little kids.

While working at a daycare, I got exposed to different ethnicities and families. This gave me an interest to learn about the different holidays the kid celebrates and the different traditions they do as a family. I felt I had a deeper connection with these kids because I got exposed to different cultures, which was a great experience. While in high school, I took one year of Spanish, so I know some Spanish words which will help me in the work force. I also took American Sign Language my junior and senior year of high school. I absolutely loved sign language because I got to interact with the students that were hard of hearing or deaf. This was such a spectacular experience, because you can make words with your hands. With me taking these foreign languages, I know this will help me in the work force because although I’m not real fluent, I could use basic word knowledge to interact with my students.

After graduation, I would like to teach students somewhere between 2nd-4th grade. I love the older kids because you can interact and have a conversation with them. My favorite subject in school was reading and I hope I get to teach that subject in my classroom one day. I want my students to have a better understanding of what the authors meant writing that story. I enjoy the bigger communities because that’s where I have grown up and you can still develop close relationships. I want to teach in a bigger community once I graduate. As of now, I want to achieve a master’s degree about a year after I start teaching.