After years of the corporate world hustle, I began to ask myself "what more can I do?" Prior to applying to the NYC Teaching Collaborative, I was working for one of New York's largest healthcare systems as a Marketing Coordinator. I also have tons of experience as a dance teacher. The length of training in the classroom appealed to me. Having not experienced a classroom setting outside of my time as a student, I wanted to give myself the best chance to succeed at this new venture. 

If teaching is what you want to do, you will know within the first week of being in the classroom. As you go through the program you'll face many hurdles. However, you should always think back to the reason why you were drawn to teaching in the first place. My biggest joy is getting through a lesson and reviewing exit tickets or homework. Just to know that "I did that" makes me so proud. 

"I come to school every day excited, not only to teach social studies content, but to help foster skills that each and every student will use as they further their academic careers. At the end of the day, those transferable skills such as accountability, argumentative writing, and professionalism, are what I try to instill in my students. 

What drew me to the NYC Teaching Collaborative was the extended, hands-on experience in the classroom that it offers. Whereas other alternative certification programs only provide a few weeks of classroom teaching, the Collaborative allows Partner Teachers the necessary time to develop their teaching practices. These include classroom management, lesson planning and eventually unit planning. In my view, I will be much more well-prepared to become a full-time teacher because of the Collaborative experience."

"I have a background in science and I have always had a passion for teaching, evident from my experience teaching children and adults in the art of dance. I chose to become a teacher because I wanted to be an inspiration the way I was inspired when I attended school. 

In the beginning, I was more nervous than scared. I never thought that I would be able to teach successfully. After implementing the tools and strategies I learned, my biggest joy is watching my students get the “Ah-ha!” moment, and I know they learned something. My biggest doubt was the ability to be prepared to teach in such a short amount of time, but with all the training I feel more confident and more effective at teaching."

For the past 18 years, I have worked with parents, teachers, school administration, and other agencies to improve students' attendance, create programs to address academic and social needs, and create opportunities to increase college and career readiness. What excites me about teaching in NYC public schools is getting the chance to influence our youth by modeling positive behaviors, setting standards and expectations for student achievement, and working with others to improve the educational process from within. 

By modeling best practices for us during our training, the instructors from the NYC Teaching Collaborative painted a high definition image of how to succeed in the classroom. My ability to comprehend complex situations has improved vastly over the past 5 months. Now, I have considerably better understanding of the educational system and how important educators are to our society. Listening to, observing and learning from our instructors, on-site coaches, administrators and others gives me the motivation to stay focused, becoming a part of the solution to better serve our students and communities.