My parents took us to the library every week to find new books and for story hour. I began writing my own creative fiction stories in 6th grade. My love of discussing and writing about literature and other reading made majoring in English Education a perfect fit. At Bowling Green State University, I gained experience with academic essays by tutoring students through the Writing Center. I worked primarily with first-year students on argumentative essays, but sometimes had the opportunity to work with graduate students on research papers and with English as a Second Language students needing help applying grammar rules. Since 2009, I've been teaching middle and high school Language Arts courses ranging from 6th grade reading through Senior Composition. I help my students to recognize the strengths they already have and use those strengths to improve other areas. I am working toward a Master's Degree in English with a concentration in Rhetoric and Composition at Northern Kentucky University. This will position me to teach first-year composition courses at community and 2-year colleges. It has also provided me with more strategies for teaching writing.