My first four years teaching have been the most rewarding and challenging experiences of my life. I have learned and grown as a teacher and as a person more than I ever thought possible. Going into my first teaching job, I was excited to make a difference and share my love of learning with a classroom full of eager students. It was a rude awakening when I realized that many of my students came from unstable homes and arrived at school tired, hungry, and drastically below grade level. After recovering from the initial shock in the discrepancy between my expectations and reality, I set to work learning how to teach my classroom full of beautifully diverse students. I learned that patience, persistence and high expectations are the necessary ingredients to help my students be successful and I saw students beam when they finally reached their goals.