If you majored in education or had interviews for a teaching position you most likely had to reflect at some point on why you wanted to be a teacher. I’m sure other jobs out there also have similar reflective questions their future employers ask of them but for some reason education jobs really dig into the question “why do you want to work with kids?”
For most people, this question is fairly simple. Many people state they always loved working with children or they knew from a young age they wanted to teach. They even played school with their dolls and stuffed animals. It’s the only job they’ve ever dreamed of and here they are fulfilling their dreams. You go person you!
But for me it was not an easy decision. As a 3rd grader, I was determined that I would be a writer or work with books. Until high school, I spent more time with books than I did with humans which I was perfectly happy with my lifestyle. My senior year of high school I started to overthink, a problem which I excel at in life, and knew going to college for writing was probably not the smartest thing. I’ve always wanted a job where I could help people but blood and guts makes me throw up so there was no way I would join my mom in the medical field. (Kudos to all you doctors and nurses out there!)
So at that moment I decided I could go into teaching which would still give me the opportunity to write in the summer. I even told my creative writing teacher this plan. He laughed and said something along the lines of that’s what he thought he too but summer is just never enough time. He was right of course, as I have yet to ever start any writing project in the summer, but I was determined. I’ve always had the tendency of wanting to prove people wrong so I brushed that conversation off and started convincing myself going into education was the right thing to do.
The other motivation behind going into teaching was the money. No I don’t mean the salary, because that’s the oldest joke of the century, but there was scholarship money out there for education. I was a pretty decent student because of my work ethic. I never excelled in any one thing in particular, but I had determination which gave me good grades but didn’t give me an awesome ACT score. Because of this, I was not able to get a stellar scholarship to go to a 4 year university right away but with teaching I had more opportunities to get financial support. Yes, I could have gone to the local community college for two years. Sometimes I wonder how different my career path would be if I would have done that but I felt like I had a point to prove. My whole life people told me I would stay home and pretty much never leave because being a quiet person apparently means you don’t like to do anything adventurous…..So I was determined to prove people wrong and leave town as soon as I got the opportunity.
So I said audios to my small town to go to college at the University of Northern Iowa which ended up being one of the best decisions of my life. I declared my major as soon as I could because I had a plan and I was going to stick to it. However, I found myself questioning if I really wanted to be a teacher. Many people, including teachers I had growing up, told me not to go into education but again I have a habit of wanting to prove people wrong. I ignored them and just assumed they were old and ready to retire.
During the summer after my 2nd year of college, I was still unsure if I was doing the right thing. I had just kicked butt in my political science class which was taught by this bad ass lady who was head of the political science department. She was tough, her class was way harder than it needed to be for an intro class, but she made me think which I appreciated. She even complimented me on my final essay which I hung proudly on my dorm fridge for the rest of that year. For some reason, that summer I read over 10 books about lawyers or law and was starting to convince myself to change my major to pre-law and political science.
I’m a big believer in “signs” and everything happens for a reason so I truly started to question if being a teacher was really worth it. I had even heard from some family members that I was wasting my talents. I wasn’t even a teacher yet, and I was already feeling disrespect and under appreciated. It was depressing to say the least and as mentioned before I overthink….a lot and this was not a good time to be an overthinker.
Upon returning to UNI, I decided to stick to my major. I was taking professional development classes with one professor that would last all year. It was a good opportunity because we had a partnership with a local elementary school which gave me more field experiences. These classes, or I should say this professor, changed my thinking about education for good. In fact, if it wasn’t for Dr. Montgomery I would have changed my major. She was the first person that really started to open my eyes to the injustices in the world and how education is one of the keys to help solve those injustices. Dr. Montgomery ignited a fire within my soul that finally gave me a passion for not just education but for my personal life mission. I found my purpose. I knew I couldn’t change the world but I could educate and help give children the opportunity to make a difference in their lives. I’ve always been a quiet leader, person who leads by example not demands, and with teaching I found my niche in leadership.
So when I get asked the golden question of why I am a teacher I always bring up social justice. The world is not as perfect as I thought when I was a child in my backyard. Our education system is not fair and in order to be successful in life people need to be educated. This doesn’t mean a person needs to attend college but the ability to think, write, and create is something that is vital in life especially when we live in a democratic society. My goal in teaching is not to move mountains but to plant seeds. Maybe those seeds don’t grow overnight. However, with the right environment those seeds can sprout into flowers and trees and that gives me hope. This hope is why I teach.
Bee the Thread 