I had several teachers in elementary school that made an impact on my life. I had a hard time learning to read as a child, but my teacher never gave up on me. I hated answering questions out loud because I did not want to be wrong, but my teacher told me it’s okay to be wrong what is important is that you try. When I did not want to socialize with the other children at my new school my teacher went with me to talk to different groups of children until I felt comfortable. Yes, my teachers taught me all the things I needed to know academically, but they taught me much more than that, they taught me compassion, understanding, the importance of patience, and the importance of connecting with others. Those are just a few of the ways some of my elementary teachers impacted me, and it is the impact that they had on me that when deciding what I wanted to be when I grew up I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I wanted to be a teacher just like them.
I choose to become an educator for many different reasons. I want to work on transforming the concepts of a 'traditional classroom' full of desks in rows and the teachers talking at the children to an inviting environment where the teacher works with the students to cultivate learning and create a community within the classroom. Most importantly, I chose to become an educator because of the spark in a child’s eye when they finally comprehend something that they have been struggling with for what seems like forever to them. The hope in their smile when they realize that their teacher cares about them because they did not think anyone actually believed in them.
