Why Teach?

Teaching is one of the most rewarding professions. It might not be the highest paying job

as far as money goes, but the emotional reward gained from teaching is, in my opinion, one of

the highest among all professions. Teaching creates a family away from home. No matter how

old ones students are, a classroom is a family, a community. The reward is in seeing a family

member succeed, and feeling slight success for yourself because you know that you played a part

in helping that student. Feeling that excitement, seeing a student succeed in areas where he or she

previously struggled is one of the best feelings. There are an infinite number of reasons people

go into teaching. Some for the love of kids, others for the love of learning, and for others a want

to change the world. Others still for a love of summers off. I want to teach because of that feeling

that comes with seeing success. I felt the success in helping others learn very early on in life, and

became hooked.

When I was younger, I spent all my days off in my moms classroom. Shes taught special

education pre-K through 4th, general education 1st, and general education 3rd. From the moment I

was born, my mom took me to her classroom instead of day care. As I grew, I loved being in

school and I loved to learn. The older I became, the more I wanted to stay in school forever. At

one point, I remember thinking that once I finished high school, I would go back to first grade

and learn everything all over again. I wanted to make sure I hadnt missed anything. However,

that path is not one thats really possible. Thus, I decided to find my way back to elementary

school through teaching. Other than my wanting to stay in school forever, I am going into

teaching because its what Im good at. Its in my blood. Just as I mentioned earlier, my mother is

a teacher. My Aunt Diane is a teacher, my Aunt Paula is a reading specialist, and my Aunt Beth
runs a day care. Many of my cousins have gone into teaching. I truly believe that I was meant to

be a teacher.

The above reasons are mainly personal, but there is a bit of morality to it as well. I have a

talent in and a passion for teaching, and because of that I know I can be a great teacher. Schools

really need more great teachers. Ive seen so many people become teachers because they really

didnt know what else to do, or people who dont feel they can be successful in anything else.

Some people think teaching is a one-size-fits-all formula thats easy and just want summers

off. These teachers might be good teachers, but without a real passion for teaching they cant be

great. As Michie, 2012, quotes a teacher,

I realize know its not like that [formulaic]. I guess I lool at it as research and development. You

get a little more research behind you in the classroom and you can develop more programming

thats appropriateagewise and interestwisefor the kids.

Since I have this passion, teaching isnt just something I want to do. Its what I need to do.

Many social situations have also shaped my passion for teaching. This started when I was

just barely old enough to carry on a conversation. I would be in my moms classroom, reading all

of her books. Her coworkers would come in to discuss something and turn to say hello to me.

Oh, are you being a helper today? Are you going to be a teacher just like Mommy? As I got

older and actually started being helpful in the classroom, the words turned into, Oh, youll make

a good teacher someday since you help out your mom so much. In school, I started helping any

students near me who were struggling. I taught them tricks my parents had taught me. I refused

to just give my peers the answers. I would walk them through problems and make sure they

understood each step before moving on. And I would get to the last step, and stop so they could

find the answers on their own. This is how Id seen other teachers (my mom included) help
struggling students. Compliments on my teaching poured in. Youre such a great teacher!

Youre just like your mom. It became a pride to teach someone. It became something I received

praise for doing. The more praise I received, the more my passion grew. The social influence on

my decision to become a teacher was quite large.

Politics in teaching are inescapable. There are the official politics, at which most teachers

attempt avoidance, unsuccessfully, but there are less formal politics, often seen as sociopolitics.

This is the kind of politics that children really need to understand early on. There is no

community without some form of politics. In order to participate effectively in any group,

students must understand how to treat others, and how to problem solve. They must develop

a questioning mind, a critical consciousness, and a greater understanding of the systematic

factorsdisingenuous educational policy, unequal school funding, gentrification, complacent

public officialsthat impact communities of color and city schools (Michie 2012).

Many teachers use democracy in the classroom to teach students how to cooperate and build

relationships in their classroom community. In this sense, democracy means that students

opinions are shared, and taken into consideration when planning. I very strongly believe that this

is a great way of managing a classroom. Students should feel that they can have opinions, and

that their voices will be heard. I believe that a teacher is meant to lead the classroom, and to

make the ultimate decisions that will benefit all the students. However, a teacher cannot lead if

the students are not willing to follow. Thus, students must feel that they can be active in their

own education. Students need to feel safe sharing their opinions and feelings in the classroom. If

they are taught to have a voice in youth, they will go out into the community and be able to

change the world for the better. They will have more confidence in themselves, and even be more

open to the opinions of others.

 However, allowing students to take part in this type of democracy is not nearly enough to

teach them how to behave in society. There are multiple topics that are avoided in schools, and

students need to be able to discuss them. These topics can be sensitive, such as gender roles,

race, ethnicity, cultural differences and boundaries, etc., and students need to learn how to

discuss their questions in a way that doesnt offend others. I believe that these are topics that

should be part of the curriculum long before college. This is my first class that brings up such

topicsthe first in my entire life of schooling. It has been shocking, eye-opening, and very

emotional for me. I wish that someone had brought this to my attention sooner. As a child, I

learned about the damaging effects of smoking, both to myself and others. I learned to wash my

hands so I wouldnt get myself or others sick. But I did not learn about racism. No one spoke

about individual prejudice or systematic racism. Nobody taught me how damaging that could be,

to others as well as myself. The damages to oppressed groups are clear, but Dr. Beverly Tatum

includes a list of damages to the advantaged race as well:

When I ask white men and women how racism hurts them, they frequently talk about their fears

of people of color, the social incompetence they feel in racially mixed situations, the alienation

they have experienced between parents and children when a child marries into a family of color,

and the interracial friendships they had as children that were lost in adolescence or young

adulthood without their ever understanding why (Tatum 1997).

We were taught about ableism, and how awful it is to bully someone who cant help their

disability. Why not racism? Why did nobody show us how to go beyond acknowledging our

differences, and start celebrating them? When I am a teacher, I want culture to be the first thing I

teach. I want students to create a culture celebration. We will spend weeks preparing, and an

entire day celebrating the differences in our cultures. We will bring in parents. We will play
music, share food, talk about holidays, traditions, religions. I will make sure that each and every

child in my classroom feels that they are unique and special, and that they are proud of who they

are, and where they came from.

As a teacher, I also want to deviate from gender roles and norms. The majority of people

I learned about in school were white men. I did not learn much about successful African

Americans, Asians, or other ethnicities. I learned even less about successful women.

Unfortunately, this is a common experience. Students are rarely informed of the

accomplishments of oppressed groups (Tatum 1997). I think its important for every child to

learn about somebody who looks like them. It will increase self-confidence and self-esteem. I

remember when I was in 5th grade to middle school, I had a friend who claimed to be a tomboy,

and said I was a girly girl. She wouldnt wear anything pink, no dresses, no skirts. She never

painted her nails (unless it was black) and was disgusted by makeup. I loved pink and skirts and

dresses. As we grew, she became stronger in her opinions, and she started to say the word girly-

girl like it was a bugsomething gross, something wrong. It made me feel awful for wearing

pink and skirts, so I stopped. If I wore a skirt it was plain and black and long. I wore darker and

darker colors to try and fit in, and stopped playing with nail polish. I was struggling to find an

identity in something that wasnt me. I was afraid to be a girly girl because of what my

friend might say. I didnt open up to wearing things I liked wearing until my freshman year in

college. This is the opposite of Orensteins problem. She worries that all the pink and pretty, and

the intensified differences between boys and girls in their toys, will make girls more apt to base

success on appearance, and limit them in their ideas of what life can be like (Orenstein 2011).

For me, someone made pink a bad thing, and it made me feel bad about who I was and the things
I liked. I think its important that both cases are avoided. Students should be free to look how

they want to look, without worry of bullying, or comments from friends.

Democracy is something every classroom should take part in. Opinions are a part of life,

and students need to know how to agree and disagree civilly with others. Teachers have a

responsibility to lead students in understanding their voices and opinions. One must, in order to

be a teacher, take a lot of responsibility for the learning and character building of their students.

As good teachers become great, the most important part of teaching is to remember the

responsibilities, and to enjoy them. Among many other reasons, passion is a major force that

drives my goal to be an educator. I also believe that the morality for becoming a teacher is high.

Schools need great teachers. It is my responsibility to use my passion and talent to become a

great teacher, and answer that need. However, the decision to become a teacher was never really

my own. I had such a heavy social influence on me as a child, there was never any chance that I

would become anything else. I want, and need, to teach. The social influence throughout my

youth and adolescence lit the fire that became my passion, and that fire will never be

extinguished.