Having taught both high school and elementary students, I can think of a number of reasons why I enjoy teaching. If you are thinking about becoming a teacher, then you might like to take a look at the following list. I greatly enjoy teaching and you’ll get a glimpse at why I like it so much after reading the 8 reasons to be a teacher that are posted below.
Some of the things kids come up with are hilarious! I find the younger kids to be the most amusing. I love how their little minds work and they aren’t always good at expressing themselves, but the come up with interesting ways to get their point across. Their reasoning behind certain trains of thought is great. I often come home and tell my husband some of the sayings kids came up with that particular day.
Knowing that I’m inadvertently making a difference in the future is exciting to me. The hard part is waiting for the chance to see how my efforts have paid off. I have had a few students get in touch with me once they’ve been through a couple of years of college and tell me that I sparked their love for science. Hopefully I’ll inspire a student to pursue a field of science that will help solve some of the major dilemmas our world seems to be headed towards.
Hooray for summertime! This is a huge perk of teaching. I like being able to spend time with my family and take the kids on vacation without having to worry about missing a bunch of time at work. I always feel so refreshed at the beginning of the next year, even though the kids seem to have forgotten a lot over the summer and we spend oodles of time recapping concepts that they should already have down pat.
What’s the point of collecting all this useful knowledge and not share it with anyone? Teaching allows people to do just that. As long as you are able to learn how to effectively share your knowledge with students, then teaching seems to be a relatively easy job.
I try to not only prepare kids for college, but also for the workforce and functioning in daily life. I instill politeness in kids and make them speak and use correct grammar. I try not to harp on them, but I want each of my students to realize that there’s more to life than simply getting buy.
When I share a recent news clipping or publication with my students about a scientific advancement that I think is cool, they often bring in their own articles or tidbits they’ve collected to show me. It seems that when I share with them, they are more inclined to do a bit of research on their own. This sharing of information tends to bring about a higher level of curiosity, which I think is fabulous, especially when this curiosity makes its way into my students’ daily lives. I want them to explore and question as much as possible, in order to learn more and more.
I live in a very poor county where kids often raise themselves. They leave the house alone, they arrive home alone, they fix their own meals, and sometimes even take care of siblings. Most don’t even live with parents or a relative of any kind. I know the number of kids without a positive role model in their lives is staggeringly high. I feel teaching allows me to provide all kids with a good role model to learn from.
I never get tired of learning and I hope that this attitude shows in my teaching. I’m thrilled when I come across new ideas or ways of teaching and can pass this on to my students. I hope to never quit learning, no matter what my age is.
If these 8 reasons to be a teacher don’t help you decide if teaching is right for you, then maybe you need to spend some time with kids to see how you feel then. If you are already headed towards a career in teaching, then what reasons helped you down this road?
Top Photo Credit: mommawants1more