There are few professions that one can enter into that have the potential to profoundly affect as many people during their formative years as that of teaching. As a result, perhaps more so with this profession than any other, it is necessary to be able to clearly articulate the reasons that one has chosen to enter into the field, both to further clarify those reasons for your own edification and to ensure that you are entering into the field for the right reasons. Understanding the internal and external reasons that a person chooses to become a teacher and reviewing different personal accomplishments to see how those achievements can be translated to the classroom setting are two of the first steps that should be taken before starting down this path.
There are many different reasons that I have chosen to work toward a career in teaching; some of these motivations are internal, while others are external. At the middle school and at the high school levels, I was lucky enough to take courses with several okay teachers and five absolutely stellar teachers. I later came to understand that most people are not this lucky. Many of these teachers are people I am still in contact with today. They continue to push me, challenge me, and at times even correct my grammar on social media. They answer my questions, and they direct me to resources that will allow me to obtain the answers that I am seeking. They support my continued quest for knowledge, and they challenge me to be better people.
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"Why Teach?".
I want to follow in their footsteps. I want to be able to make a difference in the lives of other students as these men and women have made a difference in my own. No one becomes a teacher because the pay is great, and while there are those who opt to teach because they want summers off, not realizing that the job continues through the summer as well in the form of inservices, professional development programs, and summer school and the like, these are not my motivations. I simply want to do for others what others have done for me.
I have accomplished many things that have generated a feeling of pride. I have volunteered with various agencies, I have participated in natural disaster clean up efforts, and I have accomplished each of the goals that I have set for myself. I am detail oriented, I am efficient, I am organized, and I have a sense of purpose to what I do. Are any of these important achievements? Perhaps not, particularly not in the grand scheme of things, but these skills and my accomplishments allow me to feel as though I have a sense of purpose, and I know that these traits will assist me in the classroom setting. Being organized will make the classroom run more efficiently. Being detail oriented will ensure that I am able to get all of my duties completed, providing the best possible environment for students and being able to assist them in the specific areas in which improvement would be beneficial.
I know that I would feel a sense of purpose in working within a classroom setting. I am an optimistic realist. I know that I will be putting in 10 hour days, at least. I know that my time will not be my own, and that I will have papers to grade, events to chaperone, and a thousand and one different tasks that seem as though they are never ending. I also know that I am looking forward to this. I received my first grading wheel in 7th grade when a teacher asked me to act as a teacher’s assistant and grade the busy work. I still own that grading wheel. I have known for many years that this is what I would one day do, and I am getting closer to that goal with each passing day.
