During her first week of university, Mackenzie Gould found herself crying in a lecturer's office because she didn't think she was smart enough to cope with the course.
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Diagnosed with dyslexia as a child, school and study has always been difficult but it hasn't stopped her pursuing her dream of become a teacher and providing support to children with dyslexia and other learning difficulties.
She wants to be the teacher she needed when she was a student.
After that first difficult week of university she found the support she needed through ACU Ballarat lecturer Dr Linda Parish and others who assured her she was smart enough and could complete the course, and who helped organise the learning supports she needed.
Now she is about to complete her final teaching placement and can't wait to find a job next year and have a class of her own.
School has never been easy for me and learning has never been easy but it's just finding a way around it and finding what works for me
- Mackenzie Gould
"The whole whole reason I became a teacher is because there were a lot of teachers at my school who didn't understand ... and I want to be the voice to help those kids out there who have dyslexia or learning difficulties," she said.
"I've got a goal within me now to get my masters and do research in to dyslexia because I have quite a lot of knowledge ... but along the way I may find stuff I want to do as well so I'm very open to whatever comes my way."
Eventually she would like to work as a learning diversity specialist or dyslexia education consultant but for now she is just looking forward to getting a job.
Like more than 400 other fourth-year teaching students, Ms Gould is working as a casual relief teacher under Victoria's Permission to Teach program to help ease the pressure on schools during staff shortages.
Ms Gould is open with colleagues and children about dyslexia, which also impacts her maths ability, and has a range of techniques and tools to help.
"When I was younger I was mortified to tell people, but now I let people know there's nothing wrong with me, I just learn a bit differently," she said.
"Placement teachers have been supportive and when I let them know maths is not my cup of tea, they work on ways to help me. I'm just honest - my brain doesn't work easily and sometimes I may have a spelling mistake on the board but Siri is my best friend in the classroom and I ask 'how do I spell this?'.
"I'm very open and honest. Learning is different for everyone."
You tell someone you are dyslexic and they straight away think you can't read ... but reading is one of my favourite things to do
- Mackenzie Gould
Reading is more difficult when she is tired and the words move around on the page in front of her eyes, so she reads off a Kindle which has a dyslexic font that stops the words moving.
And her partner also helps, reading and editing her university works and she has had extra time and provisions for some assignments.
Sometimes children ask questions about how her brain works, and Ms Gould explains.
"It helps them realise and opens them to thinking 'I don't get that but it's ok because the teacher doesn't either'."
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Ms Gould also has a goal to help break down the stigma around dyslexia and educate people.
"You tell someone you are dyslexic and they straight away think you can't read ... but reading is one of my favourite things to do," she said.
"Often you are labelled as dumb, or that you can't read, or if you make a spelling mistake or do a maths question wrong people jokingly say 'are you dyslexic?' but that's not even it ... we really need to break down that stigma.
"I really want to show children that if you want something you can get it."
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