Former Marine, Current Student, Future Teacher, but always a Dad!

In August of 1989 I was laying on a bed in a hotel in Sterling Heights, Michigan. I was at that hotel curtoesy of the United States. Later that night I would get on a bus that would drive me to an airport, where I would get on a plane that would take me to a place that would change my life forever. I was entering the MARINES.

I was excited about this journey I was about to take. I wanted to be a Marine. These two statements were true but as I laid there that night in that hotel room I reflected on my life to that point. I thought about my family, my friends, good memories and bad, but what I thought about most was my experience in school.

School was something I was embarrassed about. I had a lot of regrets and thinking about it was almost painful. You see I was not a good student. Don’t get me wrong I had a good time in high school. Too good of a time really, but actually succeeding is not something I did. My parents were not really part of the process of me going to school and I was not self driven. I wanted to play sports so I kept myself barely eligible. My teachers realized early on that I wasn’t going to do most of what they assigned and all I wanted was a grade to play. My teachers didn’t want to help somebody they thought didn’t care so I was never called on and barely talked too unless it was to discipline me. They gave up on me is what they did. They did this to many other students too. These students might have been the stoners, punks, dumb jocks (which is what I was thought of), or one of the many other categories they put us in. I barely passed through high school, having to take a summer course to graduate.

Please don’t get me wrong. The lack of success was my fault. It was my responsability to study, do home work, and read. It was my responsability to learn. What about the way those teachers had done their job? It was there job to teach, and they did teach. The took an interest and really worked hard with some of the students in my school. The kids that they thought wanted to learn they taught.

It was in that bed, on that night, that I decided that I would become a teacher someday. I had no idea where my life was going to take me but I was going to be a teacher that worked hard to reach all kids. Kids like me were the ones I wanted to work with though. 

That is why right now I am on a computer starting to create a blog thats required for two english classes I am taking. Over the next few months I will tell you how I got to this point if your interested. If not and your just here to read one of the posts for my English classes thats OK, just click on the category your looking for. I hope you have as much fun in this process as I plan on having.