Beginning With the End in Mind

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens written by Sean Covey completely shifted my thinking as a middle school student.  The book was the foundation of our school Renaissance program that aimed to promote character education and created a school environment where   “students wanted to learn and teachers wanted to teach”.   The Renaissance program is arguable the reason I have fought so hard to be a teacher despite having cerebral palsy. 

 In his book Covey suggests that the second habit to becoming a confident young leader is to Begin with the End in Mind.   The point to this habit is to create a goal and then take specific steps to get there.   If you’re an educator, this habit is comparable to the backward design method of teaching.    The leadership approach seems straightforward but it is by far one of the most difficult obstacles I have ever tried to achieve.

At the beginning of semester a fellow teacher challenged me, “Julie, think about it, most people who become teachers didn’t struggle in school. “ I agreed with him. You’re certainly not going to teach if you found school to be a burden rather than privilege.   Then, I considered my own situation.  After all, I had ended up as a student teacher accidently on purpose.   I had spent my first semester after undergraduate studies as a substitute teacher  because  learning disabilities made passing the teaching exam the traditional way nearly impossible.  Still, the beat of my heart was constant Julie keep on…. TEACH TEACH TEACH.  

So, with a determined spirit, I contacted a local university about a teaching certificate program that would help me avoid the initial road blocks that I had encountered during my first attempt at trying to become a teacher.   The advisor was kind and more than helpful.  Still she warned, “The deadline will close in less then a week.  If you hurry, the admissions team   might   consider your application.”

  So, I hurried, and prayed that because the beat of my heart was to TEACH this was another chance to be a difference maker as teacher.

A year later, I am two weeks from graduating with a teaching certificate in Secondary Social Studies from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.  And so PROUD!!

Often when I tell fellow teachers that I want to live out the character written in the Seven Habits   I get a look of you’re definitely a new teacher.   I can’t ague with that … I am a new teacher.  The real gift is that those who   INSPIRED me to Begin with this  End in  Mind  are impactful educators who  have cared enough  to help me see this goal though.   My heart beats to teach   because others believed   in teaching leadership, character, and  commitment everyday!