I was one of those students who had to do what they're told but was never passionate about anything in school. I always went because I had to, not because I enjoyed it. I wanted to enjoy it; I never could. I remember my teachers sending emails or calling my parents because they didn't see a lot of motivation in my part. Therefore, my parents talked to me and helped me with homework, but still, the motivating factor was not there. I always wanted to like school more, because I knew that those kids who did, were doing way better than me academically. Even though I never had the motivation, I never completely gave up in school. I knew that I wanted to become a professional when I grew up and go to a university; I wanted to become someone in this country. It was not until high school that I finally realized that I wanted to become an elementary education teacher. I went to one of the best high schools in Illinois and the United States: Adlai E. Stevenson High School. Of course, this does not say that my school didn't have its flaws, because trust me, it did. Regardless of that, I do remember having amazing teachers that completely changed my perspective on teaching and schooling. Each year, I was fortunate enough to have amazing math teachers. These teachers taught me very important lessons about life. They were all great teachers who genuinely cared about their students learning and being healthy, outside, and inside of the school. In high school, I was going through a rough time. My parents divorcing, my sister leaving to go to college, my hospitalization, etc. so it was hard focusing on school when there was so much going on outside of school. Most, if not all these teachers knew there was something wrong with me. I genuinely liked going to their class because I knew they didn't just care about their paychecks at the end of the week. They cared about the students individually; that made coming to school a lot easier with everything going on.
