Ms. Annalisa Subadya

Since I was a young girl, I knew I was going to be a teacher. I was not lured in by the benefits
nor the holiday breaks and summers off or even because I love being around kids. Instead, as
cliché as it sounds, I am drawn to being a teacher because I want to change the world. I have
been extremely blessed to have a life bountiful of support, high expectations, love, virtuous
values, and scholarly traits. I have been fortunate to have attended solid educational institutions
where pursuing higher degrees is a normality rather than an option. My ethics and values
intertwined with setting ambitious goals not only came from my parental role models but are also
constructed from my experience journeying through the education system.

As one can see, education plays a major role in my life, however, my drive to become a teacher
all started in a classroom that was not my own, but rather my mother’s. After becoming divorced
at the young age of twenty-three and raising two small children, my mother got her credentials
and became a teacher. Juggling between finding her footing as a teacher and being a single
parent, a lot of my childhood memories blur within her classroom and students. Up until now,
she has continued to work in disadvantaged school districts with at-risk students. Though I
have created a strong foundation by rooting myself in the ideal education system environment,
I have also had the opportunity to see the unfairness in the varying environments. Environment
is crucial. It was easy for me to see the difference in quality early on. The poor quality of books
and other essential supplies not only had an effect on the students but also the morale of the
teachers. In their battle between misbehaving students on top of spending out of their own pocket
to help create a better learning environment, teaching in inner city is an occupation with some
of the highest burnt out rates. Yet through these opposing conditions, I have also seen the life
changing impact one teacher can have on her students while also understanding the huge amount
of sacrifice that must be made. My mother spent countless hours out side of the classroom
preparing to be inside. On weekends, she would take them to places that they would probably
never get to experience on their own, such as hiking up trails or visiting museums. Many had
our home number and would call years later to invite her to their graduations and quinceaneras.
Though she was a new teacher, she never hesitated to do what she thought was right. She had the
same high expectations for her students as she did for her own children.

That is passion and passion is essential to being a teacher. My experience of seeing the effect of
one teacher’s dedication to her students has helped shape my own passion and dreams. It ignited
my goal to becoming an inner city teacher for at risk students into not only a passion, but rather a
calling. I have had the opportunity to understand both sides of the education system; the one that
successfully produces competitive citizens juxtaposed with another that failed the students which
continues a cycles of underachievement. It is with these students my heart belongs to. Society
has turned stereotypes of minorities in disadvantaged areas excelling to a future of imprisonment,
pregnancy, gang life, or stuck in minimum wage jobs to one that seems like a statistical fact. The
most abhorring consequence of not only having this attitude of underachievement trust upon the
children, is rather trumped by the attitude adopted by the teachers. Teachers need to understand
that they cannot fall into the attitude that their students would be considered lucky if they
make it to their high school graduation. Instead they need to believe that their students’ options
are boundless. Not in any way am I discounting their disadvantages, but it is the teachers’
responsibility to find a way to best prepare their students to successfully compete in an ever-
changing economy. There is no reason why these needs to be lower standards for these students,
rather we need to raise our expectations high and with hard work, they can be met.

I have my mother to thank for planting this seed of wanting to help others and inspiring it to
thrive throughout my life. I am proud to say that I am still confidently and strongly on my
destined path to becoming a teacher. Last year I have graduated with my Bachelor’s Degree in
English and this current year I have spent it working two jobs; one as a teacher’s assistant in East
Los Angeles under the direction of two inspirational 5th grade teachers, whom both graduated
from USC, and my other job having my own classroom of twenty-two at risk 5th and 6th graders
in Baldwin Park. Though most days are difficult, I have never questioned myself nor the path
I am traveling. Every day I know I am exactly where I am supposed to be and hopefully next
year, I will be in a joint graduate program working towards getting my Masters and teaching
credentials.

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