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Autobiographical Essay
Lisa Chernoh
Professor Evin Fox
College of Southern Idaho
EDUC 201 Foundations of Education
Fall, 2011





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Autobiographical Essay
From the beginning, I have always wanted to be the leader. I loved getting up in front of
people and speaking. Even as a small child, when I would line up my stuffed animals and
teach them, the desire to become a teacher was very strong. Some people don't find out what
they want to do in life until they are older, but for me..... always it was to be a teacher.
Educational Background
My first experience with school was when I turned 6 and entered the first grade at Nelson
Crane Seventh-Day Adventist Elementary in Puyallup, Washington. It was a first through eighth
grade school, with two classes in each room. My classroom had 36 first and second graders in it.
Since I had been at home with my mother, she had taken the time to read to me and introduce me
to books. While this gave me an advantage of knowing how to read when I started school, poor
teaching made this ability a wall that kept me from developing close friendships. I vividly recall
in first grade, the teacher asking me to read a paragraph from the second

grade reader and when I
was done telling the others, See? Lisa can read very well. I want you all to work to be as good
of a reader as she is. No one wants to be friends with a know-it-all, so I spent many lonely days
in first

grade with nothing to do but read more books. At about three weeks into my second
grade year, I went home in tears because of the teasing and bullying. Not only did I spend most
of my time reading, but I had put on a lot of weight due to not being active. This added weight
did not go unnoticed. Mom and Dad decided to remove me from that school and send me to
Enumclaw SDA School. That school was to be my place of education through the eighth grade.
It was smaller, and only had three classrooms. The grades were split up as first through third,
fourth through six, and the last of seventh and eighth. There were about thirty to thirty five kids
in each room. The overall atmosphere of this school was one of loving kindness from teachers.
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This allowed me to develop relationships and long-lasting friendships that I maintain even now.
My eighth grade graduation class totaled eight students. The eight of us were nicknamed Eight
is Enough and we were all very close. Proudly, we all graduated with honors.
My ninth grade year saw me enrolled at Auburn Adventist Boarding Academy. Even
though I lived less than a mile away from the school, I chose to live in the dormitory. I even had
an on campus position working in the cafeteria to assist with my tuition. My freshman year
started out really well. I worked in the morning, had all my classes in the afternoon, and was
involved in many activities. I joined the Bible club, Sylvan (the elite choir) and the drama club. I
was on my way to a great high-school experience. Then, for reasons still unknown to me, I
changed. I call this my voluntary stupid period as this was when I chose to rebel against
everything that I had known and enjoyed so far in life. It was through no fault of anyone else, it
was all by my choices. I became friends with some of the trouble-makers at the school which in
part led to my expulsion from school for bringing alcohol onto the campus. At that point, I was
sixteen, and decided that I didn't need to go to school anymore. I could support myself without
an education, and I moved out of my parents home to prove it.
In 2009, information was given to me about a program that helped anyone sixteen years
and older to obtain their GED and enter college to further their education. I enrolled in that
program and am proud to say that on what should have been my twentieth high school reunion, I
donned a cap and gown and graduated with the CSI GED class of May 2010. In fall of 2010, I
began classes to become an Elementary school teacher. However, during the Algebra 025 and
108 classes that I was required to take, I discovered that I really and truly loved mathematics.
That resulted in changing my major to secondary education with math concentration.
Throughout my childhood education years, math was always my most difficult class. I
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struggled with Algebra in high school to the point of failing three semesters of Pre-Algebra
before I dropped out of school. Now that I am back in school as an adult with life experiences,
math has become like a puzzle to me and I enjoy the challenge of solving it. This, I feel, will
help me as I strive to teach math to others. I have been on both sides of the story and can relate
to those who love math and get it, as well as to those who don't.
Work History
The summer that I was fourteen years old, three of my friends and I began our first jobs.
Every morning we would catch a bus to the strawberry fields and join a picking crew. I walked
(or whatever you call walking in a squatting position) up and down rows of strawberries picking
to fill flats. This position taught me a lot about responsibility. The bus would come at 7 a. m. If
you missed it, you didn't work. We got paid by the amount of flats we picked. They were
inspected before they were weighed to make sure you were honest about it being all berries and
not dirt. At 5 p.m. A whistle would blow. You had fifteen minutes to get weighed out, get your
pay for the day and get on the bus, or you would have to walk back. I don't think I earned a lot
that summer, but I did get a nice tan on my arms and face.
At the age of 15, I obtained a position at RAX Restaurant as a salad bar attendant. It was
my responsibility to keep the salad bar stocked, clean, attractive, and that all the temperatures
were kept at the required constant levels. While I really didn't deal with the customers in a one-
on-one situation, I learned to anticipate what items would attract the customers and basically
how to keep them satisfied with the items they ordered. I learned that cleanliness and
sanitization were instrumental to passing random Health Department inspections, and made them
top priority. After working there for six months, the RAX Restaurant office decided to downsize
and our restaurant was closed. That opened the door for me to take a position as a telemarketer
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for an insurance company. I held that position for three months before I started work in the
cafeteria of the boarding academy that I began attending. Working in the cafeteria, I learned the
invaluable skills of getting along with co-workers and doing the best possible job. If something
was not done to the satisfaction of the Cafeteria Manager, then everyone had to do it all over
again. The best way to stay on the good side of your co-workers is to do it right the first time!
After leaving school during my sophomore year of high school, I held various positions
of employment including being an operator for a telephone answering service, being a waitress
on the graveyard shift at Denny's, a cashier at AM/PM Mini Mart and Gas, selling air-duct
cleaning and chimney sweep services to the Greater Seattle area, and even working in a
warehouse packaging up Nile Spice Cup of Soup to be shipped out to grocery stores. This
variety of employment reinforced getting along with co-workers and dealing with the different
people within society. My most memorable employment positions, and the ones that I feel were
most instrumental in leading me to the decision of becoming a teacher, were the year and a half
working as a Para-Educator for grades first through sixth, the three years I was Assistant District
Manager for the Valley Daily Newspaper, and the fourteen months that I worked as an
Administrative Assistant for the employment training service for Idaho Health and Welfare.
These positions greatly reinforced the desire to help others become the best that they can be. I
loved the feeling of not only being in charge, but of knowing that I was performing a service that
would enable someone else to achieve their goals.
Currently I am employed at Wal-Greens, as a Customer Service Representative. I love
talking to the customers and helping them to find what they are looking for. This experience
reinforces my people skills and following procedures and directions.
Service and/or Extracurricular Activities
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Growing up, my church was like an extended family to me. My parents and I always took
part in the family activities that were planned by the church. The majority of my friends were
church members also. As I grew up, I was asked to help out in many different aspects of church
life. By the age of thirteen, I was the assistant church pianist, Junior Deaconess and also helped
to teach in the birth to four year old class. I was constantly involved in my church groups. I was
in Pathfinders (similar to Boy Scouts, but co-ed) for ten years, on the music planning committee
for my church, and volunteer at the church food and clothing bank.
For the past eighteen years, I have also held positions in my church as a leader and
assistant to the leader for multiple childrens divisions. Currently, I am head leader for the
Cradle-Roll division (birth to four years old) at the Twin Falls Adventist Church. I have held
this position now for eight of the ten years that I have been here in Idaho. In this position, I
create quarterly programs that are age appropriate and teach them each and every Saturday
morning. These programs include nature, Biblical events, manners, and things that will help
teach, even the youngest child, to be a responsible and productive member of society. Holding
these positions has only reinforced the desire to become a teacher. I feel that it is a calling to
help others, and it has become so strong in my life that I can no longer ignore it.

Reasons for Choosing Education as a Career
As I said in the beginning of this essay, I have always wanted to be a teacher. This desire
has been so strong throughout my life, that I feel teaching is what I was born to do. Many times
on this journey to becoming a teacher, I have taken side roads that led to nowhere. Each time,
however, I come back to my first love. The only thing that I have loved as much as being a
teacher, is accounting. In January you will find me grinning ear to ear and figuring out income
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taxes for anyone who will let me. I thought about being an accountant, but when I investigated
it, I found out that there is really not a lot of computation involved. All the accounting and tax
programs are on computers where they calculate everything for you. Last Spring it dawned on
me while I was sitting in Algebra 108, that if I taught mathematics, I could do computations and
play with numbers all day. I could also teach others the marvelous wonders of the number world.
This realization led to changing my major to secondary education with a concentration on
mathematics. I also believe that if children can get over the idea that math is hard, they will
enjoy it more. Believing this has helped me to narrow my goal down to middle school
mathematics.
Professional Goals
My short-term goal is to get my Associates Degree in secondary education with a
concentration in mathematics here at CSI. At this point, I have not decided on which college I
will enroll in to finish my Bachelors Degree. I am looking into ISU and BSU as well as some
online colleges. I will accomplish my goal of Associates Degree by studying hard and doing
everything required of the program. I will then use that to gain employment, with a higher wage
than I am receiving now, to assist with my tuition as I continue my education.
My long-term goal is to be a Middle School Mathematics teacher for the public school
system. The location is not that important, as I am willing to move to any area that my husband
needs to be in for his work. I have decided on working in the public school system because that
is where the greatest need is for Great Teachers.
Conclusion
Yes, from the very beginning, I always knew that I wanted to teach. Now that I have
realized a love for math and numbers, it has been an easy choice to set my goal to become a math
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teacher. Education is changing. There is a revolution going on to make education the best that it
can be. The most important goal for me is to be, not just a teacher, but to be a great one. By
being a part of the public school system, I can help change the face of education to be the best in
the world. Then, if I am one of the lucky ones, I can help that child who is already teaching their
stuffed animals, to also be a great teacher.