I didn’t understand what it meant to be an American until I left America. My junior year of University, I had the unique opportunity to study abroad and student teach in Auckland, New Zealand. One of the first questions I got asked by one of my Year 1 students was, “how many guns do you own?” followed shortly by, “how many celebrities have you met?” These question startled me because being from New England, like most people I know, I don’t own any guns and have only met one celebrity. However this response helped me begin to understand that the identity I possess is not the same as the one people view me to have.

Ever since this experience, one of my main goals as an educator has been to open my student’s minds to the true values, ideas, and practices of different cultures. This is the reason I pursued my passions teaching abroad directly following University: I wanted to continue to build my understanding of culture, mindsets, and my own biases.

There never comes a time when one reaches a full understanding . . . but one can continue to grow through thoughtful curiosity. As an educator, I can also instill this joy for wondering about who we are and who others in my students. In the classroom, this looks like socio-emotional learning about empathy, cultural explorations connecting with schools and kids from around the world, and building a positive classroom community to promote team-building and leaderships skills. I believe in standards to ensure student academic achievement with benchmarks. I believe in inquiry to foster student curiosities and explore passion. But my teaching isn’t based on the Common Core Standards or inquiry alone, but rather my understanding on what a student needs based on the full context of his or her story.