As a teacher, I ask questions all the time. Some are simple, some require more thought. Within the past month, I have been to two ECET2 Conferences. At each conference, I was asked one question that I had a very difficult time answering. The question seems simple; however, each times that I was asked, I could not easily answer it. The question was: Why do you teach? Simple, yes, but important. I did not want to take such an important question lightly. I got the urge to learn more about myself and dive deeper into this question.
Since my life goal has always been to become a teacher, you'd think this question would have been easy to answer. At first, I was disappointed in myself for not having an immediate answer. I was not understanding why I could not answer a seemingly simple question. I realized that I was having trouble answering that question because it would mean that I had to put all of the wonderful feelings, thoughts, and experiences that revolve around teaching into one sentence. I am going to take this time to blog about those feelings, thoughts, and experiences to hopefully help me sum up why I teach into that one sentence.
So… why do I teach?
No, that is still not it.
But here it is: I teach because I need to teach. Yes, I need to teach. I am made to teach. For me, there is no other way to describe it. Teaching is such a beautiful thing and I feel so fortunate that it is a part of my journey. Thank you, #ecet2 for giving me the opportunity to think this through and truly figure out why it is that I teach.
Since my life goal has always been to become a teacher, you'd think this question would have been easy to answer. At first, I was disappointed in myself for not having an immediate answer. I was not understanding why I could not answer a seemingly simple question. I realized that I was having trouble answering that question because it would mean that I had to put all of the wonderful feelings, thoughts, and experiences that revolve around teaching into one sentence. I am going to take this time to blog about those feelings, thoughts, and experiences to hopefully help me sum up why I teach into that one sentence.
So… why do I teach?
- I teach because every child needs someone who stands behind them, someone who supports them, and someone who believes in them, just as others have believed in me.
- I teach because I love teaching.
- I teach because I love learning.
- I teach because I love leading.
- I teach because I have bountiful opportunities to learn and lead.
- I teach because it is the biggest pleasure to wake up every morning wanting to come to SCHOOL and not WORK.
- I teach because I feel supported in my community.
- I teach because I love watching the “lightbulb moment”.
- I teach because I want to instill a love of learning in children.
- I teach because I enjoy supporting and encouraging others.
- I teach because I need children to know that they matter..
- I teach because I choose to take responsibility for the education of our youth.
- I teach because I believe that I have been born to teach.
- I teach because I want to have a small part in the reason why someone succeeds.
- I teach because I want to help people achieve their highest potential, and realize they have even more.
- I teach because I want to bring out the best in children.
- I teach because children make me smile.
- I teach because children are honest.
- I teach because children amaze me.
- I teach because I have the opportunity to watch children helping and encouraging each other.
- I teach because I know what it is like to be treated unfairly and not be understood.
- I teach because I want to take every opportunity to be fair and work to understand a child.
- I teach because I believe in children.
- I teach because I don’t know if I would be who I am if it wasn’t for others believing in me and supporting me.
- I teach because I have the opportunity to watch children wanting to make and actually making a difference.
- I teach because children do not set strong limitations against themselves.
- I teach because it is fun.
- I teach because it challenges me and stretches me in so many ways.
- I teach because I know others need help.
- I teach because I want to help.
- I teach because children inspire me.
- I teach because I want to inspire.
- I teach because children deserve a voice.
- I teach because teaching fulfills me.
- I teach because teaching gives me a purpose.
- I teach because knowledge is power and it is an honor to share that power.
- I teach because children count on us.
- I teach because kids deserve it.
No, that is still not it.
But here it is: I teach because I need to teach. Yes, I need to teach. I am made to teach. For me, there is no other way to describe it. Teaching is such a beautiful thing and I feel so fortunate that it is a part of my journey. Thank you, #ecet2 for giving me the opportunity to think this through and truly figure out why it is that I teach.