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Autobiography Paper

Kenzie Teel

When the child of educators says the school has become their second home, it is not an

exaggeration. I spent more time in a school growing up than I did in my own home. Both of my

parents are in the education field; my dad is an assistant principal at the local middle school, and

my mom is an early intervention classroom assistant. Growing up in a small town meant that

everyone knew everything about everyone, whether positive or negative. I used not to like the

attention I received when previous students of my father would come up and talk to me, but I

have learned that this one of the few advantages of our little cornfield town.

My life before college consisted of a few things that taught me an abundance about

myself. Family, academics, and sports are what my world has revolved around. For many, a

family is the people you are born with whether you like it or not. I am grateful that my family

has supported me in each endeavor I desired to tackle next. Academics is another essential piece

of my life. My mother always used to tell me that sports will not last forever, but academics will

help throughout life. I took this statement to heart and made sure that I succeeded in academics

to the best of my ability. In high school, I had a desire to help people in any way possible. A

position of a tutor became available, and I decided to give it a try. I worked with a student who

was on the autism spectrum. She was the sweetest and most hardworking individual I had met.

Each day of tutoring I was inspired by her desire to be better at biology, even though she faced

multiple obstacles. Sports were an important aspect of my life through high school. I played

volleyball and basketball for as long as I can remember. Sports taught me teamwork, discipline,

and life lessons. Once you are a part of a team sport, people quickly find out why it is not able to

be accomplished alone. During our seasons my team faced many types of drama, mostly high
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school girl drama. Yet, that was behind us when we were on the court. We needed cooperation to

be successful not nagging at one another. Discipline was taught in the form of managing my

time. Most nights I would not be home until seven o’clock at night. Letting my academics not be

a priority could have been easily done with the busy schedule. I had to quickly learn how to

prioritize my academics along with my extra-curricular schedule. Playing a sport can teach many

life lessons. For myself, the biggest lesson I learned was how to handle failure and be able to

bounce back and keep working at the task that caused me to stumble. The volleyball sectionals of

my junior year, I injured my foot and was no longer allowed to play. Since I was a captain and an

upperclassman, I felt as though I had failed my team when I told them the news. Senior year

became a time for our team to bounce back from the previous rough year and be successful.

Since I come from a family of educators, I have multiple experiences with children that

impacted me. I helped my dad at the middle school’s dances and parties, which was a lot of

screaming and sweaty 5th graders. I also worked at the summer school program at the primary

school. Yet most of my experience came the summer after my senior year of high school. That

August I worked as a substitute assistant at the primary school. This sparked my interest in

teaching and allowed me to see the background workings of being a teacher not just the natural

love for students. I was able to help one of my mentors talk through lesson plans and work with

the students in areas in which they were struggling. This experience opened my eyes to the world

of teaching.

As a future educator, I want to instill in my students a desire for learning. I want them to

know that school is a safe place to escape from troubles in other areas of their lives. I want them

to see that failure does not mean they are incapable of learning, but a motivation to try harder

and get back up once they have been knocked down. As a future educator, I want to be the type
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of teacher who motivates, loves, and walks beside the students as they begin this life long

experience of learning.