Introduction

Hello.

I am an aspiring teacher named Abi. At this point in my life, I am working my way through a Master of Arts in Teaching degree (MAT) in order to become certified to teach in the state of Maryland.

We were asked to create a blog as part of one of my classes, but I think it will be an excellent opportunity to discuss things that I am learning about education as I move forward with the program and into my career.

However, before we get into the educational topics, I'd like to take the opportunity to introduce myself and provide some background...

At the time of this post, I am a 24-year-old graduate student at Stevenson Univerisity. In the next few days, I will be moving from the Eastern Shore of Maryland (where I was born and raised) to Baltimore in order to be closer to the university, where I have just accepted a position as a graduate assistant. I began the Master's program in the fall of 2015 and intend to graduate in the spring of 2017.

I earned two Bachelor of Science degrees from University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) in 2013, one in Biological Sciences and the other in Psychology. After graduating, I began working as a biologist at a private ecotoxicology lab. There, I learned the realities of working in the scientific research industry.

This was not the typical path that a teacher takes. While I have had a knack for teaching and explaining things since I was young, I was hesitant to pursue teaching for a very long time. I had flirted with the idea multiple times throughout my undergraduate experience but never committed. The call of research was too alluring because it was something new. However, after spending time actually doing research, I began to realize that it was not for me. I found myself spending my free time trying to learn as much as I could and became the coworker that people came to when they had questions. I began training employees and creating instructional videos for work. Finally, I started a YouTube channel (Learn Something Together) in an attempt to find an outlet for my teaching passion that was growing daily.

Around this time is when it became clear to me that I had been avoiding teaching for long enough. It was clearly something that I enjoyed doing and would allow me to learn new things while being able to do what I am good at. I found the MAT program at SU and knew that this was the next step that I needed to take.

Since starting the program, my knowledge about teaching and my desire to teach have grown exponentially. With every assignment, I encounter new philosophies and strategies of which I wasn't aware. I have found so many activities and teaching styles that I can not wait to employ in the classroom.

Hopefully, as this blog continues, I will be able to share my journey as I continue to learn and gain experience in the classroom.

For now, I will leave you with one of my new favorite quotes that was derived from the writings of Xun Kuang:

"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn."