I grew up with an older sister and a younger sister. My whole life I've been jealous that they could pull off straight A's without even opening a textbook or hammer out a top-notch paper the night before it was due. I've never been able to do that and I work really hard for everything that I've gotten in my life. I've always had a little bit of resentment towards them for this, but at this stage in my life I feel something different: grateful.

        Because I've had to work for everything that I've done and I've earned every grade that I got it's really provided me with a great work ethic. Instead of doing the bare minimum I want to succeed to the best of my abilities. I've always been so thankful that my parents recognized the difference in my sisters and I growing up and they never pushed me to be like them. They pushed me to do the best that I could do. I want to apply this to my students. Not every student is going to be the best shooter in basketball, but they might be a great dribbler. They might not be able to serve the ball in volleyball, but they might be a great setter. I want to be able to find the strengths in every one of my students to turn them on to sports. They might have tried soccer and thought that they weren't good enough to make a team, but I want to provide an environment in my PE class where they have the opportunity to work on different aspects of soccer in a non-competitive way.

            I know that every student has a different way of learning and needs to be motivated. I can't wait to get into the classroom and be able to motivate and push my students to be the best that they can be, in whatever it is they want to try.