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Hello! My name is Natalie Berry and I am freshman here at Franciscan. I am very excited to be

here and I am really enjoying all my education classes so far. I am from Michigan and not quite

fond of being land-locked here in Ohio. I grew up visiting the Great Lakes every summer and I

am most content when I am up north with my family and friends. I am not sure yet where I

would like to teach after graduation, but if the Lord leads me back to the mitten, Ill be just fine

with that ;)

Unlike a lot of other education majors that I have talked to, I actually never thought about being

a teacher until high school. I always thought it would be really fun to be a teacher but my minded

always drifted to pursuing other occupations. Ironically, if we went back a few years and you

knew me, you would find me coming home from school and right away playing school. I would

go over to my best friends house and we would set up our American girl dolls and play school.

Still, I didnt think that was what I was supposed to be when I grew up.

Truth is, I am still growing up. Id be lying to you if I said I was 100% sure that God was callingme to be a teacher. As much as I am enjoying my education classes, I am still exploring and

keeping my mind open to other possible career routes.

So what made me choose to declare education as my major? Good question. When I was in

high school I started doing some tutoring for little kiddos and even some high schoolers. During

this time, I also started babysitting for numerous families. I remember very clearly a

conversation I had one evening with my dad. One little kid that I tutored would come over to my

house for help in reading and writing. While watching me work with this little kid, my dad noticed

I had a knack for it and he pointed that out to me during this conversation that we had. He asked

me if I ever considered a career in education. It hit me! I really enjoyed babysitting and beingaround children and I also found such joy in tutoring. I finally put the two together and realized

that maybe education would be a great fit for me.

In my opinion, you have to love being around children if you are going to teach. Being the oldest

in my family, I have always taken on the motherly and nurturing role when caring for my

younger siblings. Having this attribute will help me to encourage others and allow children to feel

safe and comfortable with me. Some other attributes that I have that I believe would make me a

good teacher include patience, understanding, organization, and enthusiasm. Through my

babysitting experience, Ive learned how to multi-task and care for the needs of young children.

When it comes to teaching, your role in the classroom includes more than just teaching. You are

the nurse. You are the counselor. You are the mother/father figure for the time being. Being a

teacher requires you to be there for that child so that his or her physical and emotional needs

are met. I am going to continually educate myself and engage in ongoing career development so

that I can help my students succeed and reach their full potential.

Speaking of needs, I do realize that I will have to work with many students who have various

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needs. This is something that I have had personal experience with. During my elementary years,

I had many obstacles that I had to overcome (and still in progress of overcoming). In third grade

I was diagnosed with an emotional disorder called obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). This

affected my behavior in and outside the classroom. I refused to go to school and if my parents

forced me into the school I would not be able to go a whole day without having an anxiety

attack. Luckily for me, my third grade teacher was very understanding of what I was going

through and worked 24/7 with my parents to come up with the best strategies for when I felt

anxiety attacks coming on. My OCD continued throughout grade school. Some teachers were

very helpful and empathized with me while others didnt. Because of my experience, Ive made it

a goal of mine to learn more about emotional disorders and strategies that will help me deal with

similar situations in my classroom. This is one reason why I have chosen dual licensure.

Besides being a general educator, I would also like to be an intervention specialist.

If someone were to ask me where I see myself in five to ten years, I would say teaching. My goal

is to land a job in a Catholic Elementary school. I love the idea of incorporating the faith into myclassroom. I have attended Catholic school my whole life and my faith has always been

important to me. I would love to teach second grade and prepare students for the Sacrament of

Holy Communion. By attending Franciscan University, I feel as if I will be prepared to reach that

goal. If there is one thing that I would want each child that I teach to know it would be that they

are capable of doing whatever they want. Whether they want to be a doctor or an astronaut. I

want them to know that I believe in them and to encourage them to never stop pursuing their

dreams.

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