Imma Be A Teacher!!

           I’ve always wanted to be a teacher, but I think the reasons were more selfish than anything. I loved children so I wanted to have a career involved with them. I knew this career was one that would allow me to have a family, and I knew that I would be able to, personally, grow from this career. Those are still reasons that led me to become a teacher, but now I’ve looked at the big picture. Teaching is a very selfless career. You pretty much cater to every whim of each student, you sacrifice your time to help them grow, and you put them before yourself. I honestly can’t think of another career as rewarding as being a teacher (except being a mom of course!). I feel that this career is one that, even though you have to be selfless, you’re still gaining so many rewards and great experiences from it.

            I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to be able to help in many different classrooms (Pre-school, Kindergarten, 1st grade, and 3rd grade). I've also had the opportunity of tutoring students at various schools; the ages range from Kindergarten to 7th grade. People ask me what grade I want to teach, and that's a question I can't really answer because I just want to teach so badly; it doesn't really matter what grade. In my education classes, I’ve re-learned that each child is different and will learn and react to things differently. This is something that I’ve always known but never really realized until I started taking Education classes. Teachers have to be aware of this and go into each day with an open mind. We have to forget about how we think everything should go and just take things one step at a time. We can’t expect these children to act how we’d like them to all the time, but we can help guide them into becoming respectable people; teachers have that ability.

            A statement that was given in one of my classes a couple years ago states, “Every single person is an absolute miracle.” I don’t think anything has hit me as hard as this statement did. Sometimes I get so caught up in myself by comparing myself to others. I hate to admit it, but sometimes I put myself on a pedestal and judge others; it's something I've been working on. This simple phrase helped open my eyes to the truth of it. Each person is indeed an absolute miracle and they should be treated like one. This has inspired me to really help others understand this as well. As a teacher, I feel that one of the most important things is to help the students realize that they can do anything they want to if they are determined and work hard. I see so many instances where a student isn't getting something and they get so discouraged, and it's heartbreaking. I just try and make sure that I always let them know how great they're doing and to keep up the good work. Students, especially when they’re younger, need this validation to keep going. Every single one is an absolute miracle and they hold so much potential! They just have to believe in themselves as much as I believe in them.

            I feel so blessed to be able to have all these growing opportunities. With all the experiences I’ve had these past couple years, there is no doubt in my mind that I am choosing the right career path for me. I love being around students and helping them learn and grow. There really is a light in their eyes when they figure something out and that makes all the frustrations from getting to that point worth it. In the end, it doesn’t matter if the students acted out during the day, but it does matter that the students were able to learn and take something away from that day. It doesn’t matter if you didn’t get through certain assignments, but it does matter that the students are improving on their work. It doesn’t matter that you have a hundred and one assignments to correct each night, but it does matter that the students enjoy learning and are able to go to school in a positive environment. There can be so many negative things about teaching, but those don’t matter one bit to me. I want to instill a love for learning in students and to be able to make a difference in their life like so many of my teachers have done for me.
            I don't know how many of you know this, but I'm into my second semester of being in the Education program. I'm learning so much; I love it! I'll graduate Spring of 2015...I'm almost there, kind of! ha ha I had to create a post for a class I'm taking...another part of that assignment is to include three URLs to Educational blogs which talk about how blogs can be used in the classroom. Here are the one's I found (they will probably only be interesting to teachers... :) ha ha):
http://www.edudemic.com/ (social media in the classroom)
http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/ (creative teaching ideas)
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/p/about-me.html (She writes about technology among many other aspects of teaching.)
http://regurgitatedalphabits.blogspot.com/ (This doesn't really have anything to do with technology in the classroom, but I thought it was a fun blog.)
Peace Out.