Experiences as a Teacher/Learner

By far, one of my greatest learning experiences was spending many days of my youth, learning from my grandfather in his rare and antique book shop, which was located in Tatamy Pennsylvania. For me as a passionate student of history, it is immeasurable as to how important it is to be able to do research using primary sources, and to be able to actually hold and use first edition sources, some dating back to the fifteenth century. My grandfather himself, was a history teacher for the Nazareth School District for 35 years. He started out teaching at a one room schoolhouse at the foot of the blue mountains and ended up in what we would consider a modern educational facility. His insights into education and how children learn provided a framework for how I myself view education. His mind to this day is still incredibly vast, if I ask him a question dealing with any topic, he always seems to know something about it. I still visit him regularly and he still helps me find excellent research material from his personal library of rare books, antiques, and ephemera. With his help, my personal library has swelled to over 5,000 volumes, which for me as an educator is invaluable. A book dealing with just about any topic imaginable is directly at my fingertips whenever I should need it.
Growing up in a museum, I was able to learn not only through books, but also through hands-on interaction with literally thousands of artifacts. By the age of 10, I was giving full fledged tours of our museum and its contents. By being immersed in history all of my life, and having access to all these wonderful things, I believe that it was in my blood to become an educator. To see a child hold an artifact that was expertly crafted by our ancient ancestors almost 10,000 years ago, and to see them find their own inner vision of what they imagine life was like during that time, is simply priceless.
I as an educator want to be able to reach out to my students and connect with them not only a professional level, but also on a personal level. I do not want them to feel like they are simply another number, or a body filling a desk. I believe that it is important to know each of their strengths as well as their weaknesses in learning and to address them properly. We as educators need to always remember just how much of an impact we can have on the lives of our students and on their educational footprint. With increasing societal preasures, and an ever-growing technological world, it is imperitive that we understand what our students are facing and to prepare them for future obstacles that they will have to oversome.