Thursday, September 24, 2009
Why a teacher?
With our next little assignment coming up (the intro letter) we are gonna have to write a quick little blurb on why we all want to be teachers. This is a great question, what is that makes us all want to teach other people. Now i'm curious about why everyone else has decided to teach, and since im asking the question it's probaly only fair if I tell first. For me, and this may be selfish, it's the feeling you get when you see someone have that light bulb flick on in their head, showing you helped them understand. It's being able to to be there for someone when they feel completely overwhelmed and help them sort it all out. It's the ability to encourage someones curiosity and show them a few tricks along the way. Now I could probably go on but these are a few things that appeal to me and have made me want to be a teacher. So now I ask everyone as a warm-up to our introduction letters what makes you want to be a teacher?
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My career goal of becoming a teacher comes from the influence of my father while I was growing up. It’s a “since I was a little girl kind of story”. My dad is a principal and teacher and growing up I used to spend every PRO D day or holiday in his empty classroom, making up lesson plans and teaching my invisible class. (Kind of geeky I know!!) But since then I couldn’t wait to have my own classroom. I would watch (and still do) the way his students looked up to him; the way he inspired and intellectually motivated each one of this students. He was a role model to his students and that inspires me to do the same. My favourite teachers in high school solidified my desire to teach. I myself looked up to them as not just a teacher but a mentor. They taught more than curriculum, they taught life lessons. I want to be the kind of teacher that my father and my favourite teachers were. I want my students to also look up to me and selfishly I want to feel like I impacted or helped each student in a lasting way.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I'm loving the blog right now because usually to a question like, "why do you want to be a teacher" I would just joke around and say "July and August." Don't get me wrong, I live for my weekends and summers but Rhy and Gillian your answers were so thoughtful and well-considered they not only made my heart warm,they also made me really think. So, thanks for that!!!
ReplyDeleteI signed up for PDP because I've always thought teaching was just a good "fit" for me. I L-O-V-E, to a nerd level, reading and writing, my mom's a teacher and finally, I really believe in the potential of the public school system. All signs point to teaching i guess... right? I was pretty sure.
Then this summer my little bro came up to work on the dock at the lodge I am a fishing guide at and I got to teach him how to salmon fish. The day he caught his first chinook I could have cried, it was, like Rhy said, a lightbulb moment. For him because he had put it all together and he was sooooo proud of himself. And for me because I realized how much joy I took out of knowing that something I taught him made him that happy.
It took a real life moment to cement for me that I've been doing a lot of secret teaching (being a coach, fishing guide, sister) over my whole life, and it hasn't just been a good fit, it's been something I've been excited about, something I've loved doing so much I never even thought about it in terms of a job.
PS. To both of you, I don't think impacting someone in a positive way is ever selfish - it's just a moment of mutual happiness.
Great question Rhy.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in high school I was entirely certain that I would NEVER be a teacher. Without realizing it, I did quite a few jobs and volunteer positions where I was teaching and really enjoyed it; coached soccer, snowboarding instructor, etc. One day I started thinking more seriously about teaching after an unsatisfying work term with the provincial government. I realized that I wanted a job where I could make a difference in people's lives. A career aligned with my moral and ethical beliefs. It is really hard to put a finger on the different reasons that it appeals to me. Since that day I decided to pursue teaching by being a science camp instructor over the last 2 summers. For me, it was a perfect fit. I really enjoy working with youth and the opportunity to make a positive impact on them and to see them mature and grow while learning and interacting with others. Over the past two summers I have been excited to go to work and teach every day, and I really think that this is representative of the reasons that I want to be a teacher.
Like Cameron wrote, when I was in high school I never pictured myself eventually becoming a teacher. I wish I could say I had many teachers during that time that inspired me or made me a better human being, but I would be lying if I did. Honestly, high school for me was a very confusing time in my life, I barely graduated, and I left with such a love for learning that I avoided post secondary education until I was 25. This wasn't all the fault of my teachers, as I generally looked at school as a prison from the age of 12 on, and I'm sure I turned my back on many possible great relationships with teachers because I was very narrow-minded, selfish, and unsociable at the time.
ReplyDeleteAll that being said, I've changed so much in the last 14 years (!!!!) since I graduated high school that I can hardly believe that I was ever that person. Getting to this point in my life where becoming a teacher is a reasonable career option was a very long journey, with many crazy twists and turns along the way.
So, to finally answer the question, I think my main motivation for becoming a teacher (other than pragmatic ones like "I need a career of some kind before I'm 40!") is to do what the teachers who "taught" me failed to do: inspire, help, empathize, and try to instill in my students a love for knowledge, art, history, beauty, culture---all the things that make life so special. I'm sure teaching will not always be all fun and games, but I am looking forward to the experience. It's going to be a crazy ride.
Very interesting comments thus far. As each of us are unique individuals, it's interesting to see how each of us have come to teaching from a unique set of motivations. Some from the desire to be like the experience they've had in school (or home) and others from the desire to be unlike that same experience. Also interesting is the number of you who have teachers as parents - the apple doesn't fall from the tree in this way I guess! For me, it was more of a situation like Kelly, I got by in school, the most heard line at my parent teacher interviews was "Chris would be a great student if he just applied himself..." Nothing about high school really interested me (except the social aspect and playing hockey!) I also took 4 years off to work, think and travel before returning to post secondary. Similar to Justine, the jobs I held in those four years put me in positions to 'teach' others skills of various capacities, and I realized quite quickly that I very much enjoyed watching people succeed, and if I could help someone along the way, then all the better. I like the way Justine put it: "secret teaching".
ReplyDeleteChris
This is really awesome i always love to hear stories of inspiration and or influence, thanks for posting on this guys.
ReplyDeleteSee, I actually did want to be a high school teacher while I was actually in high school. It seemed a bit odd to all my friends, but I genuinely liked what I saw. To me, there’s something glamorous about lecturing, about instruction. The ‘sage on the stage’ metaphor has some negative connotations these days, but it’s still referring to a romantic notion of a wise, learned man or woman regaling a captivated audience with theories and anecdotes.
ReplyDeleteWill my students be persistently captivated and see me as a wise and noble scholar? I’d rather not answer that.
But the ideal is still there, and I just love… talking. And learning. And reading things.
In short, I want to be a teacher so that I can talk at people professionally, and hopefully have them learn a thing or two and teach me something in return.
It took me a long time to say "yes, I want to give teaching a try...now."
ReplyDeleteAfter trying out a few occupations and briefly entertaining the notion of a few more, what it finally came down to for me was this:
* I love working with people to the point that I NEED to work with people...in a meaningful way...most days of the week.
* For me, the feel of explaining something to an individual or a whole group of people, and then seeing that they GET it when before they were totally frustrated or confused, is a great feeling.
* I have observed that in the majority of cases, teachers seem to "stay young." There must be something about working with youth that keeps you learning and adapting yourself...what a great way to be in life.
* 2 months of summer vacation, some job security, potential jobs world-wide, transferability of skills.
* CREATIVITY. The doors are open to make it just like you like it, and to keep changing it.
* The potential to do good in someone's life, and therefore the world.