Hi, my name is Sharon Petterson. 

A little bit of background information is always a good thing when reading someones thoughts and musings. So here is a little bit about me…

I have always wanted to be a teacher. I enjoy seeing children grow and develop. After high school I chose to go to the University of Wollongong because of their policy to get students into classrooms as soon as possible.

While at university I volunteered at my local church and ended up running the youth programs for a year while helping with the children’s ministry when I had time. I also volunteered through the University of Wollongong to work with AIME (Australian Indigenous Mentoring Program) where we help indigenous high school students succeed and ultimately get into university through seminars on resume writing, dealing with drugs and alcohol and mentoring in small groups.

In the middle of 2014 I received my Bachelor of Primary Education from the University of Wollongong and began working as a casual teacher in the Wollongong and South Western Sydney areas. At the end of 2014 my parents whom I was living with moved to Dubai for work and I needed to find a stable job so… I took the opportunity to move and follow a dream by living and working in London for 12 months. I worked for a company called Vibe that works mostly with Australian and New Zealand trained teachers  to find work in London schools.

While working for Vibe I interviewed and presented trial lessons for several full time positions but ended up deciding to work as a supply teacher for 12 months, which allowed me more freedom to travel and to experience a variety of classrooms and positions within the school system. During the 12 months I worked on all grades from nursery to year 6 and even a day on high school. I worked as a RFF (PPA) teacher one day a week and became known for never turning a day down, no matter how tough the schools reputation was. I worked with special needs students, teaching assistants and gifted and talented students in both public and private schools. London was an amazing experience and I learned a lot about educational practices from working in so many different schools and working with some amazing teachers.

During the first half of 2016 I had a full time position on a lovely 1/2 class. As lovely as they were I was only a temporary teacher. During my time with them I was challenged with some very difficult behaviours but was fortunate to have support from the amazing staff at the school.

Now I find myself in Dubai while I study my Masters of Education (Teacher Librarianship) and working supply in a variety of schools across the city. Needless to say my life is a bit of an adventure right now!