My Autobiogrpahy

Kayla Reed
IDST 4114
7/9/08
Prof. Augustine


My Autobiography

Throughout my entire life I have always wanted to one day become a teacher. My next door neighbor was a teacher and would always bring over different crafts, and worksheets that she would do with her kids that I too could work on with my students when I would pretend to play school down in my basement. Then as I grew older, and after working at daycares, and being around small children, I decided that being an elementary school teacher would be the best fit for me. For this reason when I enrolled at Virginia Tech I decided to major in Interdisciplinary Studies where I would be able to minor in two subjects that both have really interested me in my life. Throughout school mathematics was always my favorite subject and science was always a very close second. I loved how Math was always a challenge for me and I always had to put a lot of thought into completely solving a problem before ever getting the right answer. I also thought it was neat how in Math you always had to have the correct answer by solving the problem on your own. You could never really just guess and get the answer right, especially on problems that are really long, and seem to take you forever to finish. Algebra was always my favorite subject in math, and it was the a perfect subject for making students have to think and not just guess, which like I said before, I really enjoyed. As far as Science is concerned I really just loved studying about the earth, animals, rocks, minerals, and everything that we see and hear in our everyday lives. Biology was always my favorite science because it involved mostly everything we needed to know and hear about the earth and everything that is in it, which really caught my attention. That is why I really wanted to study more than one discipline and minor in both PK-6 Mathematics and General Science, which were both perfect fits for me. So far, Interdisciplinary studies has taught me a lot of great things and allowed me to broaden my ideas, theories, and thoughts not only just in school but throughout my everyday life at home, and at work. It has opened me up to so many different things and allowed me to not only look inside of the box, but also outside of the box too. Another characteristic I have retained as an interdisciplinary student is how I now come up with many different answers to everyday questions instead of just coming up with one solution to all my questions or problems.
Some of my strengths and skills as an interdisciplinary student are that I am a very hard worker and I like the fact that I am able to study two different subjects and be good at both of them instead of just excelling in one subject. I feel like now I am also more open to all sorts of different things, and will not just always do the things I am used to or feel comfortable with doing. Whereas before I only did what I had to do, and would never do anything that I did not feel at ease with. When I do finally graduate next year, and become and elementary school teacher I plan to use my interdisciplinary knowledge and skills in many different ways. First I would like to teach them how to broaden their interests and be involved in many different things growing up until one day they realize what it is they really want to be involved in or do for the rest of their lives. Second I would like to teach them how there are at times many different answers to some problems that at first we might not even think about. That it is very important for them to look outside of the box, and not just pay attention to the things they are used to and know.