Life is an adventure. This is how I got here: * 1 year: substitute teacher in Riverside, California. * 3 years: teaching ESL in Yemen at the Yemen American Language Institute (YALI), with the U.S. Peace Corps * 6.5 years: teaching ESL at the University of Kansas (KU) and studying General Linguistics * 13 years: of teaching ESL and doing admin at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) University * 3+ years: tutoring Accounting, ESL and Writing at Paradise Valley Community College (PVCC) * 2+ years: teaching ESL and Freshman Composition at Paradise Valley Community College * 4 years: teaching ESL and administering an academic success program at the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) in the UAEI have learned: * Special education classes are the most amazing classes to substitute for. These teachers are stars. * I can often succeed far better after I have once failed and when I am willing to give up on methods that no longer work. Thank you to UCR for this! * We must not give up when things don't come easily, not believe "I can't." My Peace Corps trainers saw me through this one. * Teachers who share love to teach. This was true everywhere, but nowhere so much as at the AEC and HCT. I developed the habit of collaboration into an instinct. * Sometimes we must go where the job needs to be done and keep asking and doing until it happens. The job becomes what we make it instead of a description in a file somewhere. This was quite a revelation to me at UAEU! * People remember when you treat them with kindness and respect, and especially when you quietly make their jobs a little easier. I really appreciated hearing this at UAEU and HCT, and as a student at PVCC. * Learning how to learn is far more important than getting the answer. I've always known this, but PVCC and the LSC really brought this home.