Early life of Annie Smith

    Annie Smith was born on April 6, 1980, in North Carolina. She was adopted into a lower middle-class family of Lucy and John Smith. She has two younger siblings: a brother and sister. Lucy and John adopted Annie when she was just a newborn baby.  They loved her with all their hearts and gave her everything they could, until one day everything changed - her parents Lucy and John, had children of their own. 

The whole family started to treat Annie badly because she was not biologically related to them, they picked on her for everything she did. When life got too difficult and painful, Annie liked to write in her room where she could express her emotions. She also liked to read books and paint in her free time because they made her feel calm when things got rough.

Activities:

Even though life was hard at home, Annie felt safe at her school because her teachers helped her get through each day. One of her teachers, Mercy, comforted Annie every time she came to school with an unhappy face or in a bad mood. Sometimes, she even gave Annie some wise advice when it seemed like she needed it the most. Annie felt loved and cared for under Ms. Mercy. Because of Ms. Mercy, Annie wanted to become a teacher. 

    She wanted to become  someone who cares for all her students in a personal way. As Annie got older, she became more involved in her community. When Annie was in high school, she started to volunteer at an afterschool program at an elementary school by tutoring other students. 

As she pursued teaching in college, she continued to volunteer at different organizations because she felt that these were some small ways she could give back to her community and make a difference. 

Contribution to the American Culture

As a teacher, Annie shaped the future of Americans and leaders. As a citizen, her role allowed her to teach young people basic skills like reading, writing and math. Annie started her teaching career right after graduating from college and because of that, she faced many challenges: her colleagues doubted her ability to teach the students who almost every teacher thought were difficult and challenging to work with. The students also didn’t believe in her ability to teach and thought that she would give up on them

    Annie decided to stay in the classroom even though others were insulting, threatening and mocking her for not figuring out how to handle her class yet.  

            On top of being given a hard time by her fellow teachers and staff, Annie’s students also bullied each other. Students with special needs and whose first language was not English were attacked verbally the most. They were made fun of because they did not look or speak the same as others.

Annie believed her students needed her so they could succeed. So, she tried to figure out what would work for these students to learn in a loving, safe and fun environment.