Why I Have Chosen to Become an Educator
Amelya Hannibal
East Carolina University
October 12, 2018
Abstract
When asked why I want to become an educator or teacher, I feel like everyone has similar answers. Lots of people answer with, “I love kids” and that maybe true but what else about teaching draws people in and make them say, “I want to be a teacher”. I just recently changed my major to elementary education the beginning of my sophomore year at East Carolina University. I feel like it was my destiny to be a teacher because of my creativeness and willingness to learn from people including those who are younger than I am. I have always loved children but didn’t realize that I wanted to be a teacher until I sat down and thought about what I truly want to pursue in life. I have some many influencers in my life that helped me realize that teaching is something that I am now desiring to do. Growing up, I have had my fair share of babysitting and surrounding myself around kids and I truly enjoyed every minute of it. I also enjoyed playing teacher as a kid growing up. When I would play with my friends in the neighborhood I would always suggest being the teacher because I love doing it some much. At first, I didn’t want to become a teacher due to the pay rate but that easily went away when I thought that this is something that I would even do for free. I strive to be the best teacher that I can be, and I want to help students know what they want to be when they get older. I want to leave an imprint in their lives as well as their parent/guardian’s lives. I interviewed my family member, a kindergarten teacher, for her experiences and thoughts on some questions that I think is important to know. There are plenty of situations and issues that teachers have to manage that I was unaware of, but I am glad to know. I am overjoyed that I will be able to inspire, encourage, and impact young lives.
Introduction
When I first began attending at East Carolina University, I was majoring in biology. I wanted to be a veterinarian because I am fascinated with animals and wanted to help make those animals feel better. I wanted to be able to save lives. It wasn’t until the summer before my sophomore year, that I noticed I wanted to pursue another profession. During this time, I thought about what I really wanted to do and figure out what would make me happy while I am working. Fortunately, once I started classes this semester I began to be excited about going and participating in class. Although I love animals and have been around them most of my life, I also came to realize that I share that same love for children. “But the real villain for many of them was the paperwork: not just grading and correcting homework, but writing student assessments, creating independent education plans, and filling out mandated forms.” (What’s It’s Really Like to be an Elementary School Teacher, n.d.) The paperwork is one of things of teaching that I am looking forward to. I am excited to see what I can create as a worksheet and see the student’s response. I know that it won’t be easy being a teacher, but I will take the good and the bad of teaching, including the pay rate, the teaching strategies, the students, and the atmosphere. I want to be able to experience what it is like to have the future in your hands because the students of today are our future.
My First Experience with Children
My love for children began with my family, I was always surrounded by kids. Around the age of 9, I started to babysit, and I enjoyed making the children happy. Given my experience, as I got older, my love for kids also began to grow. Being surrounded by my family pushed me into noticing that I was big family person. Making other people happy brings joy to my heart, is a big thing that I have noticed about myself. While babysitting, one thing that stuck with me is that no matter how long I have babysat a child they would still remember me after I would be done with working for their parents. I had this excellent kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Pheobe, she would step out of the box and had a different way of teaching her students. I loved every morning she would ask us if we wanted to go outside to start our day and we would all say yes of course but we wouldn’t go outside to play. Mrs. Pheobe would take us outside to stretch and do yoga, she explained that yoga frees the mind and body. She wanted to clear our minds of all the negative thoughts and she wanted our minds cleared for the learning process. I loved doing yoga in her class because it was relaxing but it also helped wake me up in the morning. I want to do something like that for my children, I want them to be able to enjoy coming to my class every day.
What I want to be able to do while Teaching
The fact that I will be able to impact others contributed greatly to the realization that I wanted to be a teacher. I can impact a young child with education and help them build the future. Making a positive imprint in the society makes me excited to become the best teacher that I can be, and I believe I can achieve that by starting with the children in my class. When people think of teachers, they think of negative things such as, the pay rate and how they are underrated. I believe that teachers are unappreciated heroes, but I feel that it is also a benefit because it keeps the teachers on their toes and they can think of ways to leave an impression on their students. The pay rate used to be a factor of why I wouldn’t want to be a teacher but that changed when I thought of what I could do for my students and I honestly don’t care about the pay rate anymore, this is something that I would do for free. I love the thought of meeting new students every year and would enjoy meeting new students and establishing a new atmosphere. I am glad that in a classroom you begin to establish a family with your students through communication and honesty.
Interview
I contacted a family member, Tavon Campbelle, who is a kindergarten teacher at (insert school name). I wanted to interview her because she is just beginning to be a teacher and wanted to know how it is to teach for your first couple of years. I enjoyed interviewing Tavon because I am profoundly close to her and wanted to always know what it’s like to be a teacher. I started the interview by asking what the greatest challenges are facing teachers today; she began to answer and said that there are many challenges that teachers face. She proceeded to say that she struggles with getting necessary resources just to teach the content that is supposed to be taught. She also stated that teachers struggle with not having the appropriate technology in the classroom, at her school the technology is limited, and she would be able to serve more students in small groups if they had technology for all of the students while working with some students one group at a time. Another struggle that Tavon faces is that no one can change the home lives of their students; “I’ve never seen so many students struggle with something as simple as coming to school” Tavon stated. She began to explain that she has had students that were homeless, living in difficult situations, or sleeping on the floor at home and teachers are expected to help them learn. She said that it is very heartbreaking to watch such young children go through these things. I started to sympathize with her after explaining how she felt about the challenges that teachers have to face. I can only imagine how I would feel if one my students came to me and told me that they can’t properly come to school due to homelessness. That is horrifying to see your student go through that.
Tavon stated that the she has always wanted to be a teacher, but she always said that she wouldn’t or couldn’t do it because the children today have no respect for adults or authority figures. She told me that she felt like she became a teacher because it was her “calling”, it’s what she was supposed to pursue as a career and do for her rest of her life. She wants to change, motivate and inspire young lives and want to be the teacher that children will remember and say she changed their life. She began to say this excitingly because it is something that she values. I feel that same way about my students and how I want to change the world one student at a time. “A child having that one person in their life who loves and cares about them and their well-being can make all the difference”, Tavon said joyfully. This made me happy because I am glad that there are lots of teachers who want to help make a positive impact in their student’s lives. I was excited to hear about how Tavon motivates her students because I want to be able to bring smiles of their faces when I motivate them. I teach Kindergarten so there are a lot of things that work with my students that wouldn’t normally work with older students such as candy and stickers, Tavon said. She proceeded to say that she also uses an app called Class Dojo, you can set it up to give students points for anything like being on task, walking quietly in the hallway or helping a friend. On Friday, the students that have 30 or more points get to go the treasure box which have small prizes and toys that the student can choose from. Tavon also uses a color system in the classroom and her students always love bragging about which color (blue, pink, purple, etc.) they ended the day with. It makes her happy to see how proud they get from the color they earned that day. I really enjoyed interviewing Tavon because I have always wondered what it was like for the first couple of years of beginning of teaching. Tavon also liked answering my questions because she is so excited that I will be another teacher in the family and we can go to each other about education and teaching.
Conclusion
I want the chance to inspire and encourage students is truly a challenge but also a great opportunity. Plenty of students go to school because they are forced to not because they want to go. I want to be the teacher that makes learning fun and interesting for my students. I want my students to come to school because they are excited to learn something new in my class. I like that I will have the opportunity to make a difference and change the world. I want my students to learn beyond the curriculum and learn beyond what they think they will be able to process. I want to motivate, teach, inspire, and change the minds of my young learners. This is the reason I want to become a teacher… I want to change the way people view teachers and the learning process.
References
(T. Campbelle, personal communication, October 5, 2018)
Myers, P. (2005). The Princess Storyteller, Clara Clarifier, Quincy Questioner, and the Wizard: Reciprocal Teaching Adapted for Kindergarten Students. The Reading Teacher, 59(4), 314-324. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/20204356
What It's Really Like to Be an Elementary School Teacher. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://teaching.monster.com/careers/articles/9638-what-its-really-like-to-be-an-elementary-school-teacher