1. Aaryn Frazier
Teaching English and Learning Patience
Writing comes almost as natural to me as breathing. The same with reading and
comprehending. But something I have had to learn, and learn carefully, is patience. I have three
younger sisters, and not a one of us is similar to another. We look different. We have different
interests. And, most importantly, we all learn differently. English comes easy to me, but the same
cannot be said for my sisters, especially the second youngest. But she is so smart in any type of
math. Math is a foreign language to me; just like patience.
I always knew I wanted to do something in the English realm, but I only recently decided
to go into education. Because as a teacher I will give knowledge to my students, but they will
also teach me. My students will teach me some of the greatest things in life. They will teach me
patience and they will force me to expand my knowledge of the subject in order to find a way
that everyone will learn. Because no one should ever feel like they are being forgotten, left
behind, or told to do something they are unprepared for.
I remember what it was like for me in any math class; mortifying. It was mortifying
because, as much as I tried, whatever was supposed to click, so that I would suddenly understand
anything math related, never clicked. I could read and ask questions until my face turned blue,
but I was never going to understand something that I didn’t understand. Plain and simple. I was
set afloat in this vast ocean and no one taught me the proper way to swim. My hope is that I will
never be that teacher. I want to set every one of my students on the right path with all of the
essentials needed for their adventure.

2. I chose English education to become a better me. I will be better for my future students
because I will never forget feeling left behind to fend for myself. Everyone will go on similar
adventures, but not every student has packed the same essentials. And that is okay because it will
be my job to set them on their way with everything they will need based on the individual
themselves. To be a teacher, I have learned, is a way of life and my course has been set from as
far back as I can remember.