I was about 7 years old and it was my first Christmas in New York City. I remember looking out the window and seeing the ground and trees filled with snow. I was still waiting to open my gifts. When my mother finally called me to the living room I was anxious to start unwrapping. I had my eye on this big rectangular, flat box wrapped in a shiny velvet paper. But before I can even grab that box, my mom told me to wait for my brother to open his gifts and then it was my turn. When my brother was finally done I grabbed that rectangular flat looking box. I ripped the paper as quickly as possible. Right in front of me there was this rectangular flat green blackboard and a box of chalk. It was not just the regular white chalk, it was colorful chalk.
I dragged the blackboard to my room. I opened the box of chalk. Then I paused for a second and thought to my myself what should I write on the board. I remember how my teacher wrote her name Ms. Smith. But I did not want to write her name and so I wrote Ms. Sanchez. After writing my name I wrote the alphabet.
The next morning I grabbed the board and lined up all my stuffed animals. I was teaching them the numbers and letters. My cousin Francis who was 4 years old asked if she could play. I told her that she could be one of my students. There I taught my cousin and stuffed animals every afternoon. The days I had school , my mom allowed me to play with the blackboard under one condition, which was to finish my homework first. I gave my cousin Francis an old notebook with blank pages to write the things I wrote on the board.
A month later the word of mouth in my family was that I was teaching Francis. My cousin was learning how to write her name, recognized the letters in her name and numbers 1-5. My aunt was so happy that she started paying me a few dollars. I placed the money in my piggy bank. One day while I was reading a book it had occur to me that I can ask my siblings to have their kids who were around Francis age to come to my house so I can teach them. Of course I asked my mother first and she agreed but I was only allowed to teach on the weekends. To my mom I was just her daughter, but to my five 4 year old cousins I was their teacher, Ms. Sanchez.
A few years later my mind was set to be teacher. I was already 17 and looking for the best school in Education. However, all of this changed one night when a family member sat me down to discouraged my dream of becoming a teacher. She explained that teaching is not for everybody and that I should follow a different career path such as medicine. She went on to say how my parents were not happy about my decision and it was a waste of time. I loved my parents and to think that my decision of becoming a teacher made them unhappy made me reconsider. I was afraid to ask my parents and so I never asked them why they were opposed for me teach.I decided to start looking into nursing. I moved to Florida. There I got accepted to the school of Nursing at the University of South Florida. I hated the courses and the clinical assignments I had to do.
I spoke to my mom and decided to move back to New York. My mom sat down and explained to me that no matter the career path she would support my decision. My dad on the other hand was not too happy but he had to deal with it. I decided to apply to the Saint Joseph’s College school of Child Study. I fell in love with the program. I met Mrs. Straut-Collard who was very intimidating and the head of the department of child study. She sat me down and explained to me how hard the program was and that she expected nothing but excellence. She gave me pen and paper to write the reason why I wanted to become a teacher. I must have stared at the wall for a good 10 minutes. I was nervous. The pressure was on. I then started to write and let my ideas and beliefs about teaching flow. After, I was done I left. A week later I received my acceptance later. I attended the school orientation and then registered for 18 credit courses.
During my first semester I struggled keeping up with one of my education courses. It required students teaching hours and I was working at the time. However, I was able to manage and had the support from the Child Study program. One semester after the other I found myself getting comfortable and managing my classes , student teaching and working at a day care. During my last semester in school I only took four courses in education and graduated a semester early.
After graduation my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. I decided to take a year off and care for her. She went through several surgeries, then chemo and finally radiation. It was the toughest experience of my life. I passed several job offers that year. When my mom was recovering she demanded for me to start teaching. I applied to a private school in Manhattan for a prekindergarten position . I worked at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs for 2 years now. I love my job there and wouldn’t change it for another profession.