I graduated from Rutgers University in 2008 with a Bachelors degree in Communication. I had worked as an executive assistant for 14 years but thought about becoming a teacher on and off during that time. I finally decided to go ahead and take my pre-service class and Praxis exam at the beginning of 2013. I have been a substitute teacher since March 2013 and have enjoyed every minute of it. I am trying to get a full-time job as a teacher, but jobs are very scarce especially for alternate route teachers. I enjoy teaching a wide spectrum of subjects, but my favorite subjects to teach are math and writing. I am rather well-read, as well, so I am passionate about instilling a love of reading in students. One of the reasons I seem to have success with students is that I try to teach more than simply the lesson but also why that lesson is so important. I give them real-world applications and show them how much easier (and better) it is to know the material. I also tend to use topics that the students are interested in as a way of giving examples, so the students often think we are simply having a conversation about their favorite topic when they are actually learning something in the background without even realizing it. In my off hours, I enjoy stories of all sorts, be that movies or video games, the odd television show (though I don't watch much TV), and lots of books. I also am a music aficionado with a love of the history and evolution of modern music.