Running head: STARTING OVER: MY AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY 1

Starting Over: My Autobiographical Essay

Michele Dimond
EDUC 201
Online Course, Fall 2013
Professor Jonathan Lord
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Starting Over: My Autobiographical Essay

I am finding out that starting school again after 21 years can be a bit overwhelming. My
name is Michele Dimond, and I am an Elementary Education Major. I never thought of myself as
an elementary teacher until three years ago. There were some events in my life that led to a
change in my thought process. Due to unexpected events, I found it necessary rethink my career
options in order to provide for my family. The idea of teaching was suggested to me. From a
young age, I have always loved little children. I looked for opportunities to help take care of my
neighbors children as well as my own siblings. I babysat frequently for our neighbors. I enjoyed
playing school with the children while there. However, I had never thought of becoming a
teacher. I have had a few bad experiences with teachers. I can say this has helped me develop a
desire to be a type of teacher that children can look up to and respect, not fear. I want to teach
them to love learning, not despise it.
I believe that a great teacher can lead to great learning. If students start out in their early
years with excitement and encouragement, they will have a desire to continue to learn and grow.
I will use my education background, motherhood, volunteer and work experiences to love and
nurture any child whom I have the privilege to teach. I will use those experiences as well as my
current college education to build a classroom environment in which each child can thrive and
grow. I want the children to know that I have faith in them, and that they can grow to have faith
in themselves. Some children come with that faith in them already instilled. However, it is a
fragile thing, and it is our duty as teachers to build it, not destroy it. I have seen too many
teachers destroy it by telling a child that they are stupid and cant get anything right. I have
watched this criticism destroy a childs belief that they could do anything. They end up believing
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that they cannot succeed, and so they no longer try. It takes a lot of hard work and a good teacher
or two in order to repair the damage one teacher can do to a childs faith in self. I will do
everything in my power to help them learn that they can do anything as long as they believe in
themselves and want to learn.
Educational Background
My educational background is a little sketchy. My father was in the military, and so I
attended four different elementary schools in four years. Kindergarten was in Germany, which
was my first bad experience. The teacher hated me. I was just another military brat, as she
called me. I was often punished and left out of activities simply because I could not say my
alphabet well. We moved to Riverside, California next. I was placed in an intermediate
Kindergarten-first grade class. The teacher was wonderful. She soon realized that I needed extra
help in speech and reading to help catch up to the class. I love school and reading to this day
thanks to her. Second through half of fourth grade was spent in Sacramento, California. I
moved in the middle of fourth grade to Clearfield, Utah. My teacher was a kind, attentive
teacher. She went out of her way to make a shy, insecure girl welcome in her classroom. I
continued to have wonderful teachers throughout sixth grade. I attended North Layton Junior
High in Layton, Utah. Clearfield High School was where I met my FFA Advisor, Mr. Carlson.
He encouraged me to go on to college after graduation in May 1986. However, my parents
divorced at that time, so I took the following year off to work and help my mother pay bills.
I still had a strong desire to continue my education, so in the fall of 1987, I enrolled at
Utah State University where I studied Ornamental Horticulture /Plant Science. While in this
program, I decided to extend my major to Agriculture Education. I was able to help start the
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Collegiate FFA Chapter at Utah State University at that time. I received my Associate of
Applied Science in Ornamental Horticulture in June 1992. At that time, I chose to get married
and quit school to work while my husband finished his schooling. Then along came children and
a move to Eden, Idaho. I stayed home to raise our five children.
Then in 2005, I had a brief separation with my spouse. This led to my going back to work as a
substitute and eventually a paraprofessional at Valley School District. I have really enjoyed my
experiences in this field of work, but I learned I no longer wanted to teach high school! After a
recent divorce, I found I needed to finish my education. I am currently enrolled full time at the
College of Southern Idaho in Elementary Education. I am hoping to finish up my classes here in
the fall of 2014. My plan is to then transfer to Idaho State University. I am looking into double
majoring in Special Education as well.
I feel that because of the experiences of moving around as a child, I received an added sense
of what a child needs a teacher to be. I had many people who encouraged and uplifted me. They
helped build the confidence of a shy, abused child. My home life was anything but the perfect
family life that we portrayed. There was constant fighting between my parents. We lived in fear
of my mom smacking us around or taking the belt to us when she was mad. Then there was the
sexual abuse from my father. Many never knew how much I loved the safety and security their
classroom offered me, and how many times I wished I dared tell them, or hoped that somehow
they would just know. Unfortunately, some of my teachers only added to the fears of a child
crying out for help. I hope to be that teacher whom a child can look up to for safety and security
in what can be a very insecure time in their young life. I want to inspire them to love learning as
much as my favorite teachers did for me. I hope to instill in them the belief that they can do
anything they want to succeed in. I want them to know that one person believes in them.
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Work History
I started out my work and service at a fairly young age. I started babysitting at the age of 10.
Back then, a babysitter was expected to cook, clean and entertain the children all for a few
dollars a night. However, you learned a lot about responsibility. In high school, I started
working at a local greenhouse where they grew roses. This job inspired my desire to attend
college and get my Ornamental Horticulture degree. Unfortunately, there is not much of a career
opportunity in that field right now. While in college, I worked in a flower shop, JC Pennys, and
Fred Meyer where I learned many valuable lessons. The best lesson was learning to serve the
public. It takes a lot of patience and communication skills to serve everyone. I learned some of
my best skills as a mother and wife though. I developed patience, perseverance, unconditional
love, and definitely how to read between the lines to interpret a childs needs. I learned to fight
for the rights of a child with learning disabilities when no one else believed she had them.
The experience I gained from raising my children helped when I started my job as a
paraprofessional at Valley Elementary School. I worked for two years with a child that had
Aspergers Syndrome. I gained so much knowledge from this child, as I learned to meet his
needs and see things from his perspective, not mine. After he left our school, I was asked to be
the music teacher for the year. This put me out of my comfort zone, but I learned that I loved
watching the children progress and develop. After the school hired a licensed music teacher, I
moved into the kindergarten classroom, where I have been for three years now. I look forward to
each morning when I can help another student learn to count to 100, or read a story by
themselves.
Service and/or Extracurricular Activities
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I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. There, we are often given
callings as teachers to the children. This helped me learn to adapt to the needs of individual
children as I prepared lessons. I have also served as a Cub Scout leader for five years. I learned
to be creative in finding ways to teach the skills the boys needed to learn. I feel that these
experiences have helped me learn ways to meet the needs of the children who will be in my
classroom. I have also learned that you need to be flexible. Things dont always go the way you
plan. Be prepared and go with the flow!
Reasons for Choosing Education as a Career
Honestly, the biggest reason for choosing this career is that I love the flexibility to be with my
children. I get to see them at school and know that they are in a safe environment with teachers
that will help look out for their best interests. I will also enjoy the summer break with them.
However, that is not the only reason. I chose to teach so that I can hopefully make a
difference in another childs life. I have had several parents come up to me and tell me that their
child loves to come to school because of me. These same parents have encouraged me to
become a teacher. I am not sure why, as all I do is love their children. I have been in the place of
a parent fighting for a childs right to learn and for that child to be treated with the same respect
as any other child regardless of learning abilities.
I am very nervous at the thought of being responsible to teach each child the skills they need
to be successful. All I can do is to teach them as if they were my own and how I would want my
child to learn and progress. I love it when I am in a store and see children from school. They
wave and tell their parents that Mrs. Dimond is their teacher. It is humbling to realize that I am
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being looked up to, even in a store. I want to be a role model that they can look to as someone
who encouraged them and helped them to reach for the best in themselves.
Professional Goals
My short term goals are to finish at CSI this year and apply to transfer to Idaho State
University. I will then work toward completing my Bachelor Degree in Elementary Education,
hopefully by the end of summer 2016. I then hope to get a job teaching kindergarten somewhere
close to Hazelton, Idaho until my youngest child graduates in 2020. Then I might move closer to
my mother who was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis this past spring.
As for long term goals, I plan on teaching for many years, spoiling grandchildren to come,
and continuing my education. If I do not get a double major in Special Education right now, I
would like to later. I hope to also find someone to love and share my life with again one day. If
I do, I would hope that he would support my desire to continue to teach.
It has been many years of ups and downs to get where I am right now. I have learned that life
does not always hand us what we want. As long as we are willing to grow with the changes, we
can succeed and rise above the bad times. As a teacher, I hope to be able to help each child be
able to learn that they can grow and become anyone they want to be. They can succeed if they
just put their mind and effort into their schooling. I have faith in them, and I want to teach them
to have faith in themselves.