Glory Parlier

g.parlier15@gmail.com
March 2016

(507)269-6159

I was the first born into my parents wandering lifestyle, and I was the reason they
decided to move closer to home. Thus began my life as the family guinea pig. As the
oldest of three, I was the very first to try everything: which car seat would be passed on,
which playgroup we would attend, the choir we enrolled in, even the piano teacher we liked
most. I was the test subject for it all. The biggest leap of experimental faith I embarked on
was through education. After I graduated third grade, my parents chose to try something
new by bringing me home to be educated. I went kicking and screaming; I had friends at
school, and I had carefully built my eight-year-old social status by then. After many trial-anderror situations, we found our groove in the homeschooling community and I excelled.
I believe that through the process of being home educated I have learned many things,
including my love of academia. I have always loved the smell of new books, blank pages
waiting to be filled and brand new pencils. Throughout the years of my education, however, I
felt that something lacked. I had friends and I went to extracurricular activities like theater
and choir, but that sense of community and togetherness that comes from school pride was
never there. Thats why I made the decision to begin PSEO classes at Rochester Community
and Technical College during my junior and senior years of high school. I longed for that
sense of school pride and sociality; I also loved the free textbooks and earlier graduation
date!
I had an eagerness for learning from the start, and I combined that with my passion for
children and decided in the summer of 2014 that I would apply to the Winona State
University Rochester campus Elementary K-6 Education program. The course work is
rigorous and fast-paced, but I love it. I completed my 10 weeks of student teaching in the
spring of 2016, completed all MTLEs, and will graduate with my Bachelors Degree in
Elementary Education.
I am excited about what my future holds: I got married to my best friend in December
2015, and graduating college in May 2016. After that I hope to further my career by finding a
teaching opportunity in or around Rochester. I believe that I bring a unique skills set and
experience to the classroom based on my background in home education. I have seen, read,
and worked with many different styles of curricula. Adaptation is a big part of home
education, and that can only aid me in a future involving teaching. Intrinsic motivation is one
of the biggest struggles while learning at home; if you do not have the motivation and drive
to retain material on your own, home education is nearly impossible. It is so easy to
procrastinate and fall behind. Over the years, I have fulfilled my guinea pig status and
proved that it is possible to build that motivation to learn and be successful with no

Glory Parlier
g.parlier15@gmail.com
March 2016

(507)269-6159

teachers, no paraprofessionals, and no due dates. This, I feel, gives me a unique opportunity
to pass this motivation on to my future students.