Last week in class we talked about the impact teachers have in the lives of their students. We all have that teacher or teachers that made a difference in our life and we will never forget. In high school I had two amazing teachers that guided me through difficult times and educated me as well. I know that my teachers impacted me and helped me become who I am today. I admired them and decided to follow in their footsteps; I want to make that impact in the lives of others.

One Hundred Years from now

(excerpt from "Within My Power" by Forest Witcraft)

One Hundred Years from now
It will not matter
what kind of car I drove,
What kind of house I lived in,
how much money was in my bank account
nor what my clothes looked like.
But the world may be a better place because
I was important in the life of a child.

Students depend on their teachers for support, attention and sometimes even care. Nel Noddings is a philosopher who believes care and education should work hand in hand to help students. At the high school level students are in the middle of becoming young adults and with that comes a lot of questions and emotions. Who better to help them through it than someone they see daily and can trust? Here is a site with more information on Nel Noddings and her interesting philosophy.

http://www.infed.org/thinkers/noddings.htm

Hey, my name is Catarina Abrantes. I am a Spanish major and Secondary Education minor at Saint Peter's College. This is my first blog and although I have never written one before I believe it is a great idea. I guess I will start this blog with my thoughts on why I want to be a teacher.

As a child I always knew I wanted to educate others, I would walk around grading papers and talking to myself. It was when I got to high school that I made up my mind about what I wanted to teach. I had taken Spanish since 6th grade and loved it, therefore I continued with it through high school and now in college. I love learning new languages, cultures and traditions. I started speaking Portuguese as my first language and then learned Spanish; I didn't learn English until I started school.

I want to to educate others on the importance of accepting others and their cultures and traditions. Other nationalities are very unique and interesting to learn about and I don't think people value them enough. That's is why in my class I want everyone to feel equal and special. I am very nervous and yet excited to be teaching young adults about various traditions in the Hispanic world and hopefully learning from my students as well.