This I Believe... ( an assignment for my 10th graders that I also did).

None of you in this room would recognize me as a sixteen year old. Not because I had a bad perm in 1989 or that I've since then had plastic surgery to alter my appearance. The reason that you wouldn't be able to pick me out of a crowd then vs. now, is that when I was sixteen, I wasn't smart. I'm not taking book smart, I actually did o.k. where academia was concerned. SATS? Check. Acceptance into a four year college? Check check. What box I couldn't fill in on my personal resume until a few years ago was that of a scholar. It wasn't until I became a teacher that I truly started to learn because I finally chose to be smart. What some may consider a great burden of responsibility for me is a blessing of circumstance or fate - depending which eye you're looking through. This aforementioned teenager with the bad perm had so many close calls in her life and made so many stupid choices that it's a miracle that she stands before you twenty years later to share her beliefs. I was far from poised and professional when I was your age. Not many ( if any) would describe me as hardworking, dedicated or a disciple of learning. When I write my seniors letters of recommendation, I am authentic when I wax poetic about their personal attributes but can't help (selfishly) feel jealous knowing that no adult would have written such praise about me. This is why I believe that teenagers can teach adults.

When I started teaching, I was in the same age bracket peer group as my students. 18-24, me being on the later end of that age range but still in range. Knowing that I was "Miss so and so" and not Holly woke me up quickly however - that and the fact that I had experienced not only the joys of university, but also had a leg up on the follies of adolescent stupidity seemed to give me an edge. I won't get into specifics, but the fact that I'm not dead or in jail is a miracle in itself. Growing up in the sheltered white suburban dystopia was simultaneously wonderful and awful. Wonderful because I had every opportunity given to me by a caring, supportive family. Awful because I had every opportunity given to me by a caring and supportive family.

It wasn't until I saw others fail while teaching that I realized that success doesn't come easily for everyone. It wasn't until I shopped for supplies for my students because they didn't have the money to even purchase a notebook and pens that I had the epiphany that not everyone got an allowance, let alone a college fund set up for them since their birth. And it wasn't until I saw teenagers make the same mistakes that I made with relationships, underage drinking, and other risky behaviors that I came to the conclusion that what I was doing then was in fact not cool but completely stupid. At this turning point in my life, I was finally learning. Learning to put down the compact mirror and look around at others. Learning to talk less and listen more. Learning that the world does not end in my immediate circle of consciousness but expands further than any realm of possibility.

Since that first year of teaching I have learned more than 500 words could possibly ever explain. I have learned through speaking to and engaging with my students about social studies. Faiths and customs that I had only read about are now embedded in my notebook because of 1st person accounts. I have taught students from over forty, countries ; heard stories about living in a refugee camp in Kenya, fleeing Iraq, and crossing the border at age twelve in the trunk of a car. My students have also taught me economics. They have inadvertently shown me the value that a personal connection can make. That a positive comment either on a paper that I pass back or in the hallway costs nothing but at the same time is priceless. My students have taught me languages: Arabic, Spanish, Russian, Korean, Somalian, and Vietnamese just to name a few. I have learned psychology from my students - that teenage boys are more sensitive than they let on and that their counterparts are tougher than I ever was at that age. In the eleven years that I have been teaching, I can honestly say that the best teachers that I have had have been the students that I have had the honor, and pleasure of teaching. I have grown up with them and it gives me solace to know that the dumb girl at sixteen is now, thanks to over 1,500 students, is a true scholar.