Hi! I am Caitie Gibbs, and I am a second-year at Ohio State University. I am 20 years old, and I am from Cleveland, Ohio. I graduated from Magnificat High School, and I am a member of the National Honors Society. I have three siblings, one of whom also attends OSU. I also have two dogs named Pumpkin and Draco. I have decided to major in Integrated Language Arts with the dream of becoming a high school English teacher.
I have always known that I have wanted to be a teacher, however, I have struggled with figuring out what age level I want to teach. My junior year English teacher is who inspired me to become a high school teacher. I really enjoyed the diverse curriculum she presented to my class that year. I read everything from classic novels to short stories. I also read pieces from authors of different backgrounds and races, and I observed different styles of writing. My experience in this class made me wonder why my English curriculum in previous years had not been so diverse and had only consisted of white male authors. Humans can learn so much by reading about people who are different than them, and my goal as a future English teacher is to bring more of this into my curriculum.
As for my future, I have many goals that I would like to accomplish while at OSU. While at OSU, I plan on taking advantage of all the opportunities that this university has to offer. I am taking a field experience class next semester, and my goal for this is to observe classroom dynamics. I understand what a classroom looks like from the eyes of a student, so I am interested in gaining an understanding of what teaching is like. My goal is to learn more about teaching and all that this field entails. Another goal I have is to partake in service opportunities within the greater Columbus community that will get me involved with the youth in this area. Bonding with the community I hope to teach in is very important to me, and I hope to be able to do this in the future. My next goal is fairly basic, which is to graduate and become a great English teacher. I want to be a teacher that my students can rely on and feel comfortable around. A couple of my long term goals include earning a Master’s degree and a Ph.D. so that I can continue on the path of education and learning. I believe that learning does not stop after four years of college, and I would like to continue learning through life and by working toward these credentials.