My Teaching Inspiration

I've always said when I got older, I wanted to be a teacher. But it wasn't until recently that I really understood why. My grandmother was a first grade teacher for many years. After 30 something years, she finally retired. I knew that she was a great teacher and all, but I was too young to really realize the impact she had on people. When I was in 5th grade, my Gran Jan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. From that point on my life was changed forever. She moved into my house with me, and we shared a bedroom. After a few years of living that way, she became too sick to live at home, and moved into a nursing home. She was my best friend. I visited her every day, fed her dinner, read her books, laughed with her, cried with her, held her hand, anything that she would have done for me back in the day. During her stay at the nursing home, I heard comments all the time about how she was so and so's first grade teacher, and that made me feel so good! 

June 25th of this summer, my Gran Jan became a teacher to the Angels in Heaven. She fought the hardest battle of anyone I've ever met, and in my opinion, she won! Anyway... during the 12 day stay at the hospital right before she passed, I heard some women in the hallway of the hospital crying. I overheard this woman say, "I just found out Mrs. Miller isn't doing very well. It breaks my heart. She is the one who taught me how to read, when no other teacher could. She helped me in so many ways! She even gave me my first watch!" It made me feel so good to know that my Gran Jan made such an impact on so many peoples lives. From that point on, I knew exactly why I wanted to be a teacher. I am going to follow in my Gran's footsteps, and be the best teacher I can be. Hopefully some day there will be people talking about how I impacted their lives too!

When Gran was first diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

Gran and I in her room at the nursing home, 10 years after fighting her fight!

#ENDALZ