I am a 21-year-old first-generation, Hispanic female. I am currently a college "junior" going into my "senior" year of college. However, I am actually duel majoring in General Linguistics and Early and Elementary Childhood Education. Most people would think and tell me I am making a mistake and wasting my time majoring in both as it's "holding me back" and I won't be graduating with the rest of my peers. What most people don't get is that I am very passionate about both my areas of study because my final goal is to be an ESL teacher. I was once an ESL student and I had the absolute worst time learning to grasp the English language. We do have the No Student Left Behind Act which would as you think motivate teachers to push and help all their students but that wasn't the case for me. All my teachers would say to my parents was that I am way below grade level and need more help outside of school but never gave them resources or help since they also never spoke English making it more difficult for me. While I was in grades 3rd-5th I was stuck on the same reading level I had been since the start of the 3rd grade and none of my actual teachers tried to aid me but one. Her name was Ms.Kiriockavage (I am probably misspelling her name it was a very long complicated last name). She would come in and pick me out of my class every day to help me improve my spelling, grammar, and reading skills. However, this was only for the 3rd grade and I was scared that I would not see the only teacher that has been supporting me this whole time. So I remember I instinctively went looking for her in the 4th grade and asked her if she could help me after school. At the start, she was very hesitant but I convinced her. Come to find out she was never paid for helping me out that extra hour and a half. She only got paid for it during my last year of elementary in the 6th grade when she told me she finally got an official roster for after school and it has only my name on it. She and another teacher of mine both inspired me and then motivated me to become a teacher and helo out other children like me. I will be honest I still struggle with my linguistics classes but I still push forward when thinking about my end goal. Recently I just handed in a midterm where I analyzed a student's reading assessment and writing stage and I loved it. They had spelled the word 'becasue' as 'becus' and I felt very proud because I thought that was a big achievement for them as a first-grader. Most people would have just reacted like "ugh he is wrong" but I instead teared up and was super proud of them. I am ready and excited to get employed by the NYCDOE and push all my students to celebrate all their little achievements and push them to strive for more. I want to create kids that have confidence in themselves and strive for more on their own because of my teaching.