My approach to successful studying isn't what I would call creative but rather a new mix I like to call "modern old-school." As a returning student in my 30's, my habits are much the same as they were 25 years ago: flashcards and repetition. One saving grace this go-round, however, is the inclusion of others in my best practices. Believe it or not, my brilliant 12-year-old daughter helps me study most nights. I've instilled in her the study habits that have always worked for me: practicing drills, rereading, and highlighting. When I'm done helping her study for her classes, she turns the tables and drills me in return. She'll hold flashcards up for me, give me word association clues to help me if I'm stuck, as well as offer me the verbal encouragement I so often need but don't really hear outside of these sessions. This is a case where practicing what you preach comes to life - I am rewarded as both a student and mother! My daughter has also let me in on the secrets of the internet since that was still fairly new the last time I was in school. She's introduced me to the world of Kahoot!, an online quiz game that you make or take yourself (and one we take turns creating for each other), as well as Quizlet, a site where you can create and publish your own flashcards to have ready at any time. These resources are things her teachers use in school and they have become instrumental in bridging my own old school learning into the 21st century. Whoever said you can't learn from kids must not have a child as amazing as mine!

Can I be honest and say that I'm 36 years old and still don't quite know what I want to be when I grow up? I'm pursuing a degree in History for a few reasons: I believe the past can teach us a lot about the future and I see a serious discrepancy in the lack of social sciences being taught in elementary school. As an elementary K-5 ESE Interventionist, I see daily the struggles of teachers to not just find time to fit in social studies but also the lack of resources in the curriculum that makes the subject area both fun to teach and fun to learn. I've been told I am a fairly gifted writer and have thought long and hard about using creative writing as a way to make history come alive. In time, I think I would like to author children's books that make the Social Sciences more relevant and relatable without foregoing entertainment value. Especially in this day and age when history has come to repeat itself, understanding more about the past can help children better understand their present and potential futures. So, while I don't have a specific path I want to follow with an exact achievement I wish to attain, I know I'd like to contribute in some way to the educational path of children. Be that in a classroom setting, as an author, or perhaps through outreach via an institution like a museum, I believe that history is an important way of enriching the minds and hearts of students, exposing them to various cultures and the trials and successes that embody each so that humanity continues to grow in a positive direction, with open hearts toward others and open minds toward progress.

I work in an elementary school where daily I am witness to the yin and yang of chaos and enlightenment. Teachers are magnificent creatures with the powers not just to educate, but to encourage and engage with the many individual attributes found within children. The wisest thing I've ever heard is to love and dream through the eyes of a child and that's something I carry with me in my both my home and professional life. Children have this amazing ability to believe and create anything - until those flames are snuffed out by someone who tells them they can't. As an adult, it can be difficult to remember how open to life we once were, before becoming disgruntled with or disillusioned by society. To be able to take a step back from mundane obligations and pause to consider life in a different way, to try to remember what it felt like to believe in endless possibilities, is an amazing feeling at any age. To see life through the eyes of a child is a wondrous ability, like a sorcerer using a crystal ball to glimpse what could be. Children dream of any and all things possible because to them, the impossible does not exist. Children love unconditionally, their hearts and minds only tarnished once hatred is taught. Being able to witness the breadth of compassion, strength, and purity possessed by a child is a magical experience and, as an adult, regaining this foresight is an extraordinary gift. If we can remember what makes this world special, we will never give up in trying to preserve and improve what we love: our planet, our communities, ourselves. To love and dream through the eyes of a child is harnessing the power of magic; magic we can use to change the world.